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Berkshire Hathaway’s Mystery Stock Could Be Unveiled This Week
Berkshire Hathaway has been building a stake in a mystery stock—very likely an industrial company. While Berkshire followers like to guess what Warren Buffett and his investing pros are up to at the conglomerate, the mystery could be answered this week with the quarterly holdings disclosure.
The total size of the holding could be almost $5 billion, based on clues in Berkshire’s 10-Q reports for the first and second quarters. Berkshire also could disclose that it made further sales of Bank of America stock in the second quarter.
The 45-day deadline for big portfolio managers to disclose their U.S.-listed equity holdings as of June 30 to the Securities and Exchange Commission is Thursday. When Berkshire reported its equity holdings as of March 31, it disclosed that it requested confidentiality on one or more stakes it was building.
Berkshire was a light buyer of stocks in the second quarter, purchasing nearly $4 billion, while selling about $7 billion, indicating it continued to pare its equity portfolio, based on information in the 10-Q for the period and Barron’s analysis.
Berkshire has nearly $300 billion divided into financial, consumer, and “commercial, industrial and other.” In the first quarter, the commercial and industry cost basis rose nearly $2 billion, but the May disclosure didn’t include any notable purchases. In the second quarter, the category’s cost basis rose $2.8 billion.
What’s Next: The second-quarter 10-Q indicates Berkshire may have continued to pare its Bank of America investment. Details pointing to the size of Berkshire’s realized equity gains signal that Berkshire might have sold another $4 billion or so of Bank of America, Barron’s estimates.
—Andrew Bary
