No. of Recommendations: 9
DVA is Ted's baby. He apparently has spent years studying the company and committed a considerable amount of capital (everything being relative) to buying DVA shares.
To me, the frustrating thing is that we - as owners of BRK - should be able to ask Ted @ the annual meeting his thesis on investing in DVA but such things are not allowed, unfortunately.
Does anyone have any idea how DVA has performed since TW has owned it? I thought I remember reading something a few years ago that it hasn't been anything special, certainly no home run.
This is correct, Ted personally owns $339 million worth of DaVita shares. More than half of the DVA shares "Berkshire" owns are owned by the pension funds, not Berkshire shareholders directly.
DVA was hurt for many years by the distraction (and poor returns) of the non-dialysis businesses they tried. If they stick to their focus and free cash flow retires shares, they should do fine going forward.
Berkshire's group ownership will be capped at 45%, so at some time in the not too distant future, the Berkshire entities will begin selling shares back to the company as part of their repurchase program.
Total return with dividends since 2013 looks like around 166% but most of that performance is fairly recent. So maybe the idea is just starting to do its thing.
I think Ted studied this industry all the way back from his job at WR Grace & Co.
