BRK.A

In April of 2000, we first stepped to the plate and bought Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) and made it one of our larger holdings, where it has remained until last month, when we sold half our position. After a few romantic days alone with the 2009 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report, and several emails to people we know in the insurance world to confirm for the 32nd time in 20 years what we know and don’t know about insurance accounting, we admit to mixed feelings about both the half we sold and the half we retained. As anyone with even modest investing experience can honestly attest, sometimes it just ain’t easy. What follows is our thought process. In a nutshell, our decision to sell half our position in Berkshire was predicated on a variety of factors, which we will attempt to thoroughly list below. The key driver of our decision is that the stock is at best fairly valued at $83ish per share for the “the little guy” on any number of measures including a sum of the parts basis; a price-to-book value for the whole Omaha enchilada; and a reasonable assessment of normalized “look-through” earnings. There are those who suggest that BRK is still 20% undervalued, but we believe this work contains several flaws, which include discounting Berkshire cash flows at unusually low cost of capital hurdles (Buffett premium, see below), double counting a material percentage of the operating businesses (the majority of which are housed within the insurance companies, not the holding company), and some very fancy assumptions in the valuation of float or the free money that can be generated by the insurance companies and invested profitably. Additionally, some analysis tends to value all Berkshire earnings streams as equal, which is a huge question mark when you consider the current and historical differences between the multiples accorded to financial vs. industrial companies.

Question: Why Buffet Is The Wizard of Omaha? Answer: (NYSE:BNI) Analysis of Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE:BRK.A) acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI) Value Expectations is often critical of silly corporate acquisitions, where bidders overpay to add growth or strategic opportunities. While those terms sound nice, the bottom line is that firms need to be able to justify the value of said growth or strategic opportunities with future cash flows. More often than not, firms bank on unreasonable growth or profit expectations to justify a deal. For recent examples, see our analysis of Kraft/Cadbury or Dell/Perot:

The Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett is generally viewed as the most respected and successful investor in history, and many of our value-oriented readers follow the movements and purchases of Buffett rather closely and for good reason. Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate holding company, which Buffett built from a textile company into a major corporation, has averaged a 20.3% compounded annual gain in per-share book value from 1965-2008. There is no doubt about the success Buffett has achieved over the years, and there has even been a recent study done that shows an investor could have earned over 14% returns a year had they purchased each Buffett stock, a month after his investment company disclosed ownership.

We thought it would be an interesting story to show how Buffett’s holdings would rank according to The Applied Finance Group’s (AFG’s) valuation model and Economic Margin Methodology. The companies we believe look the most attractive and that investors should pay the most attention to when searching for long investment opportunities are the companies that have both an attractive default AFG valuation and are expected to improve their Economic Margins at a greater rate than their sector peers.

AFG's track record of identifying winners and losers has proven that companies AFG identifies as undervalued are more likely to outperform, than those AFG ranks as overvalued, and the same holds true for companies with expected improvements in EMs vs. expected declines. The Economic Margin methodology adjusts for common distortions in GAAP accounting practices and helps investors to understand the true economic profitability a company earns above its cost of capital. By understanding the true economic profitability a company earns and by gaining a firm grasp on the expectations embedded in security prices, investors can come to a more refined intrinsic value for a company and thus put themselves in a better position to outperform.

Below is a list of Berkshire Hathaway’s current holdings (excluding Financials) ranked by valuation attractiveness, and followed by expected change in economic margins.

Rank within Sector Ticker Name Sector Valuation Signal EM Change Signal Berkshire Hathaway's Holdings (ex. Financials) (NYSE:SNY) SANOFI-AVENTIS ADS Health Attractive Positive (NYSE:WMT) WAL-MART STORES INC Consumer Services Attractive Positive (NYSE:UNP) UNION PACIFIC CORP Transportation Attractive Positive (NYSE:BNI)  BURLINGTON NTH SANTA FE Transportation Attractive Positive (NYSE:GSK) GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC Health Attractive Positive (NYSE:BDX)  BECTON, DICKINSON & CO Health Attractive Positive (NYSE:NLC) NALCO HOLDING CO Basic Material Attractive Positive (NYSE:NRG)  NRG ENERGY INC Utilities Attractive Negative (NYSE:COP)  CONOCOPHILLIPS Energy and Extraction Attractive Negative (NYSE:NSC) NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP Transportation Attractive Negative (NYSE:JNJ) JOHNSON & JOHNSON Health Attractive Negative (NYSE:PG) PROCTER & GAMBLE CO THE Consumer Non Durable Attractive Negative (NYSE:LOW)  LOWE'S COMPANIES INC Consumer Services Attractive Negative (NYSE:KFT) KRAFT FOODS INC CL A Consumer Non Durable Fairly Valued Positive (NYSE:KO) COCA-COLA CO Consumer Non Durable Fairly Valued Negative (NASDAQ:COST) COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP Consumer Services Fairly Valued Negative (NYSE:HD)  HOME DEPOT INC Consumer Services Fairly Valued Negative (NYSE:NKE)  NIKE INC CL B Consumer Non Durable Fairly Valued Negative (NYSE:CEG) CONSTELLATION ENERGY GRP Utilities Unattractive Positive (NYSE:WPO)  WASHINGTON POST CO Consumer Services Unattractive Positive (NYSE:IRM) IRON MOUNTAIN INC Consumer Services Unattractive Positive (NYSE:USG)  USG CORP Capital Goods Unattractive Positive (NYSE:KMX)  CARMAX INC Consumer Services Unattractive Positive (NYSE:GE) GENERAL ELECTRIC CO Capital Goods Unattractive Negative (NYSE:UPS)  UNITED PARCEL SERVICE B Transportation Unattractive Negative (NYSE:ETN)  EATON CORP Capital Goods Unattractive Negative (NYSE:IR) INGERSOLL-RAND PLC Capital Goods Unattractive Negative (NYSE:IR) WABCO HOLDINGS INC Consumer Durable Unattractive Negative (NYSE:GCI) GANNETT CO INC Consumer Services Unattractive Negative

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