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Berkshire Eliminates Exxon Stake Amid Plunge In Oil Prices

TedTed
in Fund Discussions
FYI: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. eliminated its holding in Exxon Mobil Corp., exiting a $3.7 billion investment in the world’s largest energy company as oil prices fell.

Berkshire had no holding in the Exxon as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday from Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based company detailing its U.S. stock portfolio. That compares with about 41 million shares three months earlier. Berkshire also increased its investment in agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co. and disclosed a stake in 21st Century Fox Inc.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-17/berkshire-cuts-exxon-mobil-stake-amid-plunge-in-oil-prices

Comments

  • CharlesCharles
    edited February 2015
    Was surprised to read this...he just bought the stock at about $95 I believe.

    Maybe he is taking lessons finally from Flack and Junkster!
  • CrashCrash
    Exxon Mobil is the 3rd-largest holding in MAPOX, one of my core funds. The latest portfolio is dated 31st January, '15 at Morningstar. But we all know how reliable Morningstar has become. And MAPOX ADDED more Exxon--- again, according to M*.
    The fund's own page shows Exxon Mobil in 4th place, 2.4% of portfolio. But four different holdings each claim 2.4%.
    http://www.mairsandpower.com/images/balanced/MP_Balanced_Fund_Factsheet_Q3.pdf
  • scott
    edited February 2015
    Still long COP and added to it in the low $60's. It becomes a question of which energy major do I want to hold for the mid-to-long term, and that's Conoco (although I own smaller stakes in other energy-related names and MLPs.)

    Berkshire did add to MA/V, which was nice to see. Odd that he continues to add to IBM.

    The huge Berkshire stake in American Express has certainly gotten hit lately.

    A number of funds were selling energy into the decline in the last quarter. It remains to be seen whether or not there's a point where values are being picked up.
  • ron
    I love when I hear others are buying what I own, especially the Buffets of the world but don't care what they are selling. That's where my similarity ends.
  • Vert
    edited February 2015
    Question: Perhaps I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Buffet no longer personally made the decisions for the stock holdings of Berkshire. He still works directly on Berkshire's acquisitions of whole companies as well as other special situations, but he's assigned other people to work the stock market for him. Is this so or am I hallucinating again?
  • scott
    Vert said:

    Question: Perhaps I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Buffet no longer personally made the decisions for the stock holdings of Berkshire. He still works directly on Berkshire's acquisitions of whole companies as well as other special situations, but he's assigned other people to work the stock market for him. Is this so or am I hallucinating again?

    Buffett definitely makes decisions, but I believe a fairly significant amount of money has been farmed out to the two newer managers. It remains to be seen who is next in line to replace Buffett, although possibly some hints of that will be in the "next 50 years" letter (which I think was supposed to come this month?)
  • AKAFlack
    Charles,
    I don’t know about Junkster, but I’ve just been
    day trading the S&P e-mini futures since January.
    Lots of great volatility.
    My LT portfolio hasn’t changed - no need to.
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    I had been thinking about adding some Exxon to our stuff, but now I'm wondering what Warren knows that I don't. Could he have some "hunch" that oil isn't going to rebound any time soon?
  • scott
    Old_Joe said:

    I had been thinking about adding some Exxon to our stuff, but now I'm wondering what Warren knows that I don't. Could he have some "hunch" that oil isn't going to rebound any time soon?

    If you're going to play oil with a view towards the mid-to-longer term, it's probably one of the dullest ways to do so. I own COP, as well as a few other oil-related names.
  • MarkMark
    edited February 2015
    None of us know when Mr. Buffett eliminated his Exxon stake or whether he holds any options on a position. It's quite possible that he saw a oil supply issue that wasn't going to do much for his bottom line and so he just decided to step out of the way for now. For all we know he could be in negotiations to buy some oil company outright. Just wild thoughts on a chilly day.
  • Tampabay
    He sold JNJ couple years ago...its been up ever since and Hit over $100, again today,
    Thanks warren
  • TedTed
    @MFO Members: Suggest your read this article on which way oil is headed.
    Regards,
    Ted
    (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
    Oil Pares Losses Despite Inventory Increase
    https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=Oil+Pares+Losses+Despite+Inventory+Increase+wsj&oq=Oil+Pares+Losses+Despite+Inventory+Increase+wsj&gs_l=hp.3...3408.6634.0.7356.5.5.0.0.0.0.70.324.5.5.0.ehm_loc...0...1c.1.61.hp..4.1.70.dvz4msdcsos
  • scott
    edited February 2015
    Mark said:

    None of us know when Mr. Buffett eliminated his Exxon stake or whether he holds any options on a position. It's quite possible that he saw a oil supply issue that wasn't going to much for his bottom line and so he just decided to step out of the way for now. For all we know he could be in negotiations to buy some oil company outright. Just wild thoughts on a chilly day.

    He did buy more SU (I'd rather suggest CNQ in Canada, but that's just me.)

    I believe the 13f no longer showed any position in Exxon at Berkshire. He also dropped Conoco. Why he added to IBM who knows.

    Will be interesting to see if he adds to American Express, which is one of his largest holdings.
  • JohnChisum
    Gundlach says it's going down some more.
  • scott
    edited February 2015
    JohnChisum said:

    Gundlach says it's going down some more.

    It might very well be, but it becomes what is your time horizon. I think what concerns me is not that it goes down much further as much as it stays "low" for a longer period and then dividends start to come into question for more well-established companies. Worse for less strong smaller companies.

    That said, some of the pipelines still seem to be doing just fine. ETE had a nice quarter and had the Chairman/CEO purchase another 400,000 shares in January (although it seems that another exec sold them to him) and that's after the Chairman/CEO bought over a million shares last Fall. That is about eighty million in insider buys from the Chairman/CEO.

  • JohnChisum
    As mentioned in another thread, Gundlach is right more than he is wrong. I would take his word over a WSJ article that waffles on the question.

    Output is increasing so that is good. The Saudi's hate it though. Too bad.
  • scott
    JohnChisum said:

    As mentioned in another thread, Gundlach is right more than he is wrong. I would take his word over a WSJ article that waffles on the question.

    Output is increasing so that is good. The Saudi's hate it though. Too bad.

    Oh I absolutely agree re: Gundlach. I wish he'd have a fund where he could invest in a broader manner than bonds, as he's actually made a number of good non-bond calls in recent years.

    Perhaps Doubleline Global Macro is in order?


  • JohnChisum
    Perhaps Doubleline Global Macro is in order?

    Not a bad idea. Even if it were managed by others within the Doubleline firm, I would take a look at it.
  • Vert
    scott said:

    JohnChisum said:

    As mentioned in another thread, Gundlach is right more than he is wrong. I would take his word over a WSJ article that waffles on the question.

    Output is increasing so that is good. The Saudi's hate it though. Too bad.

    Oh I absolutely agree re: Gundlach. I wish he'd have a fund where he could invest in a broader manner than bonds, as he's actually made a number of good non-bond calls in recent years.

    Perhaps Doubleline Global Macro is in order?


    Doubleline has a multi-asset fund which invests globally. Gundlach is one of its managers, I'd presume he's handling fixed income. There's also a Doubleline growth fund run by another manager.

  • Tampabay
    I liked it better when every one in the investing industry thought he (Gundlach) was a nut,
    I used to make a lot of money from his funds and ideas/predictions back then...now its blind sheep dog mentality....tough
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