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The week's question
In March 2025, in the thread "Re: OT, out", Umm asked the members: "Do you think it is because America is made up of magical soil that makes businesses based in America magically profitable?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
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Author: mungofitch ✹✺🐝 SILVER
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Number: of 22353 
Subject: Re: BV
Date: 08/10/26 7:41 AM
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This is a similar image I did in late January, which shows 1- and 2-standard deviation lines above the smoothed "value" line, being the variation of how well it fits the price history. I haven't done an updated one since then.
https://www.stonewellfunds.com/SmoothedRealValuePe...


Here's an update to that graph. The yellow spot is Friday's close.
https://www.stonewellfunds.com/SmoothedRealValuePe...

The smoothed value line further up the thread is based on book per share only.
This one is the the simple average of [a multiple of book] and [my own valuation method which is basically investments per share plus a multiple of net income on non-investment stuff].

Until fairly recently the two methods gave almost identical results, but operating earnings have been pretty weak compared to investments&book in the last ~3 years, so my own valuation level is lower than the multiple of book. In the last 3 years, my WMA of real book is up 7.1%/year, but WMA of my own valuation method is up only inflation+ 3.9%/year, so the blend of the two on the graph is up 5.5%/year. As a result, the recent slope of the smooth line in this graph is a bit shallower than what you'd get with a multiple of book alone.

Anyway,
* Log of market price, inflation adjusted, log
* Log of a smoothed value line, inflation adjusted, scaled so that the 20 year average is closest to observed market price
* Plus and minus 1 and 2 standard deviations of the value line - variation versus market price

Friday's close is 16% (1.27 standard deviations) above this particular smoothed value line. In the past, a result like that (in the top 15% of the time of valuations on this metric), average four year forward returns were inflation + 2.1%/year. But of course valuation levels in future may not resemble those of the last 20 years, and my valuation methods may be a load of hooey, and nobody knows yet how Berkshire's value will evolve in the next few years.

Jim
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This community has written 21,861 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
BRK: Why Not XOM? · 62 recs · 2024
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Summary of 2Q 2026 · 55 recs · 2026
3Q Summary · 53 recs · 2024
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