If someone appears to be repeatedly personal, lean towards patience as they might not mean offense. If you are sure, however, then do not deepen the problem by being negative; instead, simply place them on ignore by clicking the unhappy yellow face to the right of their name.
- Manlobbi
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤
No. of Recommendations: 3
From Barrons:
Berkshire Hathaway Director’s Firm Sold Almost 30% of Its Berkshire Stake
https://www.barrons.com/articles/trump-nvidia-amd-...The investment firm run by Berkshire Hathaway director Chris Davis sold nearly 30% of its stake in Warren Buffett’s company during the second quarter, taking advantage of the run-up in the share price.
Davis Selected Advisers, which runs the Davis New York Venture fund, reduced its stake in Berkshire Hathaway to 1,434 shares class A equivalent (with class B shares converted to an economically equivalent amount of class A stock) on June 30 from more than 2,000 shares on March 31, according to Barron’s analysis of a new regulatory filing that details the fund’s U.S.-listed holdings. Davis Selected Advisors filed the 13-F form with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.
Berkshire Hathaway remains the firm’s third-largest holding by dollar value at about $1 billion, behind only Capital One Financial and Meta Platforms. The firm’s 13-F shows about $22 billion in total equity investments.
Berkshire Hathaway still represents about 5% of the fund’s holdings, considerably more than the company’s weighting in the S&P 500 index.
No. of Recommendations: 0
No. of Recommendations: 0
Davis Selected Advisers ... reduced its stake in Berkshire Hathaway to 1,434 shares class A equivalent ... on June 30 from more than 2,000 shares on March 31
That's a good recommendation. Maybe I should have a look at them.
No. of Recommendations: 2
"That's a good recommendation. Maybe I should have a look at them."
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This from a Perplexity inquiry...
"Based on available data, none of the major Davis Advisors Funds have outperformed the S&P 500 Total Return from January 1, 2000 through January 1, 2024.
The Davis New York Venture Fund (Class A), the flagship fund, posted an average annual return of 8.21% over 20 years (ending June 30, 2025). The S&P 500 Total Return Index annualized roughly 9.8% over the same time frame (Jan 2000–Jan 2024), according to widely reported index figures, indicating the Davis fund lagged behind.
The Davis Financial Fund (Class A) delivered 8.41% annualized over 20 years.
The Davis Opportunity Fund (Class A) delivered 8.61% annualized over 20 years.
For reference, the S&P 500 Total Return Index grew from 1,469.25 on Jan 1, 2000 to approximately 4,770 at year-end 2023, producing an annualized total return above 9% per year, even including the dotcom and 2008 financial crises.
No Davis open-end mutual fund with at least 20-year history (from before 2000) shows a 20-year average annual return that equals or exceeds the S&P 500's total return for this period. Their fund literature points to outperformance since the 1960s inception for the New York Venture Fund, but not explicitly over the 2000–2024 window.
Recent products like the Davis Select U.S. Equity ETF (DUSA) have occasionally outpaced the S&P 500 for one- or two-year stretches but do not have a 24-year record.
In summary, while some Davis funds have a history of long-term value investing and selective outperformance in distinct decades, their performance did not exceed the S&P 500 Total Return Index over the 2000–2024 period according to their most current published results"
ciao
P.S....even their highflying venture fund under perf the S&P coming up $164K short of $100K investment in the S&P 20 yrs ago, ($485K vs $649K )
No. of Recommendations: 1
yes.
I was surprised when he was named to the BOD
No. of Recommendations: 0
A better recommendation would be to somehow invest in the Davis Advisor Fund company :)
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As per Perplexity.....
Chris Davis, CEO of Davis Advisors and portfolio manager for the Davis Funds, is compensated primarily through equity in the employee-owned firm, a significant ownership stake, and performance-based pay tied to fund results over multi-year periods. His direct share in Davis Advisors is estimated at about 30%, valued around $100 million as of early 2024.
His pay structure emphasizes investment performance: a large portion of his compensation is tied to beating benchmarks over five-year periods, and some of his reward is reinvested in fund shares. Public interviews indicate the cash pay for the portfolio manager role is modest; Chris Davis himself joked “we’re paid $800. Let’s not get carried away here, we’re not insane” when discussing direct manager compensation, implying most financial benefit is via his ownership stake and investment in the funds.
Davis Advisors is not a public company, so exact salary or bonus details are not disclosed as they would be for S&P 500 CEOs.
Compensation is heavily aligned with fund performance and firm ownership, not simply a salary, which is typical among privately held asset managers.
In summary, Chris Davis’s primary financial compensation comes from his 30% ownership in Davis Advisors, valued near $100 million, and from performance-based incentives and his own investments in the Davis funds. Explicit fixed salary amounts are not publicly available, but are much less significant than his equity stake.
ciao
No. of Recommendations: 1
I was surprised when he was named to the BOD
Please elaborate. Surprised in a bad way or a good way? I'm very happy to have him on the board, helping to oversee and maintain Berkshire’s culture.
No. of Recommendations: 1
I think his track record is sub par. Has rose his family’s past success.
I’m not overly sad but this board deserves the best of the best.
No. of Recommendations: 0
No. of Recommendations: 1
No. of Recommendations: 0
yes my mistake.
No. of Recommendations: 2
In summary, while some Davis funds have a history of long-term value investing and selective outperformance in distinct decades, their performance did not exceed the S&P 500 Total Return Index over the 2000–2024 period according to their most current published results"
ciao, that´s exactly the point why I might want to look closer. Because with S&P as super highely valued as it currently is a contrarian fund --- contrarian in the sense that it´s managers think and act(!) independently --- might outperform and have lower drawdowns in the coming period. And the move to sell Berkshire when it was clearly too expensive is interesting in this light.
No. of Recommendations: 2
This from a Perplexity inquiry...
Did you try asking perplexity if **ANY** managed mutual fund beat the S&P500 from Jan 1, 2000 through today? I tried with grok but it wasn't able to give a proper answer. The answer is probably "none", but it (grok) showed me a few funds that beat over a 15 year period somewhere within the 2000 - 2025 period. For the 15 year ones, grok said:
Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX)
Vanguard PRIMECAP Investor (VPMCX)
Mairs & Power Growth (MPGFX)
FMI Large Cap Investor (FMIHX)
Dodge & Cox Stock (DODGX)
Parnassus Core Equity Investor (PRBLX)
No. of Recommendations: 0
No. of Recommendations: 3
Wally Weitz and Mason Hawkins (Longleaf) are vastly overrated and they are almost never mentioned any longer as successful value investors / money managers.
I hope Weitz was picked for the Board solely because he is a hometown boy and not because he is has a good investment record.
No. of Recommendations: 5
“Here's a fun chart ………
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We’ve all seen this before & yet we still have waaay to much time so we continue searching for that hidden magic formula leading to eternal outperformance!
It should be so easy to follow our Chairman’s advice recalled by Perplexity……….but what fun would that be…..& we do have all that extra free time, soooo…
“Warren Buffett has consistently advised his family—including his sister Bertie—to invest in a simple, low-cost way rather than attempting to pick winning stocks or follow pundit advice. His specific instruction is remarkably straightforward:
• Allocate 90% of funds to a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund (he often cites Vanguard as an example).
• Allocate the remaining 10% to short-term government bonds.
Buffett’s reasoning is that this simple approach will likely yield better long-term results than those achieved by most investors, even professionals using high-fee managers. He emphasizes the importance of keeping costs low, avoiding speculation, ignoring self-proclaimed market experts, and continually staying invested for the long haul. Buffett believes this method takes full advantage of the reliable long-term growth of the U.S. equities market, reduces risk of major errors, and protects against unnecessary losses due to high fees or bad timing.
Here is a direct quote from his instructions (originally written for his wife, but urged for other family members as well):
“Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard’s.) I believe the trust’s long-term results from this policy will be superior to those attained by most investors—whether pension funds, institutions, or individuals—who employ high-fee managers.”
Buffett stresses that ordinary investors—including his own family—will likely fare much better following this simple, disciplined approach than by chasing market predictions or complicated strategies.”
ciao
No. of Recommendations: 12
I hope Weitz was picked for the Board solely because he is a hometown boy and not because he is has a good investment record.
Appropriately, Berkshire's requirements for directors are, "In choosing directors, the Company seeks individuals who have very high integrity, business savvy, owner-oriented attitude, a genuine interest in the Company and a significant investment in Berkshire shares relative to their resources for at least three years."
Berkshire has Buffett (for the time being), Abel, Weschler, Combs, Jain, and others in house. We don't need board members to choose whole or partial equity investments for us. We need them to preserve the culture, and I expect Davis and Weitz will excel at that.
No. of Recommendations: 4
“Wally Weitz and Mason Hawkins (Longleaf) are vastly overrated and they are almost never mentioned any longer as successful value investors / money managers.”
To be fair, they both have been very successful - they both got very rich raking in management fees.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Munger’s quip, “ What they shout out, they’re pounding in” describes Mason Hawkins quite well. As he waxed eloquently about Level 3 , then CenturyLink, then Lumen..on and on for about two decades.
It’s good for everyone to shut up. At least eventually, after the facts are changing in your face. Shout it out inwards versus on a megaphone. Especially important for fund managers. I don’t invest in funds anymore (thankfully) but Joel Tillinghast is a good role model in this regard. Never spoke, wrote articles etc. Did quite alright.
No. of Recommendations: 1
The Rales brothers @ Danaher never spoke about anything!
