Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018 slipped by with hardly anyone noticing.
As reported previously 2018 has seen challenging trading times with many star hedge fund manager unable to turn a profit. The central bank’s transition to monetary tightening and deteriorating Sin-China relations caught many bullish hedge funds wronged footed last year.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018 are the latest in a string of funds which also underperformed in 2018.
“Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018 are the latest in a string of funds which also underperformed in 2018”
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018 were mainly attributed to a slide in Apple (AAPL) stocks
Berkshire Hathaway raked up a loss of more than $3.8 billion on its AAPL position. Berkshire Hathaway portfolio has a sizeable stock holding in the technology company with 58 million shares of Apple stock. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire is the third largest shareholder after passive investors Vanguard and BlackRock.
So Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018 can be attributed to the fund’s large exposure to Apple stocks. Warren Buffett first public announcement that
It is somewhat unusual that technology stocks would be the culprit for Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018. Warren Buffett, also known as the Oracle of Omaha has usually had an aversion towards technology stocks following a disastrous stint with investing with IBM. On Feb. 1, 2017, Apple’s shares were trading at approximately $129. Apple is currently trading at $152.30 as of January 10, 2018, so Warren Buffett is still in the green on the first portion of stock he bought back then.
“Berkshire Hathaway raked up a loss of more than $3.8 billion on its Apple (AAPL) position”
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018 were attributed to the billionaire investors adding to that stake significantly during the last two years and at much higher stock prices
In Q1 2018, Berkshire bought another 75 million shares of Apple, adding to an existing stake of 165.3 million shares Berkshire already owned at the end of 2017. Warren Buffett then told CNBC at the time that he clearly likes Apple, and “we buy them to hold.” But Apple stock is down almost 30% in the last there months which is technical putting the technology stock into the bear market.
“We bought about 5 percent of the company. I’d love to own 100 percent of it. … We like very much the economics of their activities. We like very much the management and the way they think” – Warren Buffett
The technology company has been hit by waning demand from its largest customers in China and a number of technical hitches with its latest iPhones.
So Warren Buffett’s Berkshire losses in 2018 come from holding on too long and wanting to own more of Apple stocks. “We bought about 5 percent of the company. I’d love to own 100 percent of it. … We like very much the economics of their activities. We like very much the management and the way they think“ Warren Buffett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
