Post #5358 by mungofitch on the Berkshire Hathaway board

Please be patient and understanding when interacting with others, and avoid getting frustrated or upset if someone does not respond to your posts or if a discussion does not go as you expected. Remember that everyone is entitled to express their own perspectives. Furthermore, even when you don't entirely agree, try to benefit in some way from it.

- Manlobbi

Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤

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Are there any notable failures of mean reversion that those who criticize it can point to?
...
CBI :)

That one does spring to mind!
They spent over 100 years doing (mostly) fixed price big construction projects while managing their risks through thick and thin. Until they didn't.
There was no simple calculation of "normalized earnings" that handled that. It was a known risk, but not a quantifiable one.

"Death via merger" with another company is bad enough, but it adds some extra artistry that that acquiring company then went belly up from asbestos claims.
Like the cartoon character run over by a train that then has a piano dropped on him.

Jim

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