Warren
Buffett
and
Charlie
Munger
at
press
conference
during
the
Berkshire
Hathaway
Shareholders
Meeting
in
Omaha,
Nebraska,
April
30,
2022.
CNBC
Berkshire
Hathaway‘s
Warren
Buffett
said
his
sprawling
conglomerate
may
only
slightly
outperform
the
average
American
company
due
to
its
sheer
size
and
the
lack
of
buying
opportunities
that
could
make
an
impact.
The
Omaha-based
giant
—
owner
of
everything
from
BNSF
Railway
to
Dairy
Queen
and
6%
of
Apple
—
has
by
far
the
largest
net
worth
recorded
by
any
American
business
and
now
reached
6%
of
that
of
the
total
S&P
500
companies,
Buffett
said
in
his
annual
letter
released
Saturday.
“There
remain
only
a
handful
of
companies
in
this
country
capable
of
truly
moving
the
needle
at
Berkshire,
and
they
have
been
endlessly
picked
over
by
us
and
by
others,”
Buffett
wrote.
“Some
we
can
value;
some
we
can’t.
And,
if
we
can,
they
have
to
be
attractively
priced.”
The
last
sizable
deal
Berkshire
did
was
buying
insurer
and
conglomerate
Alleghany
for
$11.6
billion in
2022.
The
“Oracle
of
Omaha”
has
also
acquired
a
28%
stake
in
energy
giant
Occidental
Petroleum,
while
ruling
out
buying
the
whole
company.
These
moves,
while
significant,
didn’t
live
up
to
the
expectation
of
an
“elephant-sized”
target
that
Buffett
has
been
wanting
to
make
for
years.
Berkshire
held
a
record
$167.6
billion
in
cash
in
the
fourth
quarter.
“Outside
the
U.S.,
there
are
essentially
no
candidates
that
are
meaningful
options
for
capital
deployment
at
Berkshire.
All
in
all,
we
have
no
possibility
of
eye-popping
performance,”
Buffett
said.
Berkshire
did
build
a
9%
stake
in
five
Japanese
trading
companies
—
Itochu,
Marubeni,
Mitsubishi,
Mitsui
and
Sumitomo,
which
Buffett
intends
to
own
long
term.
The
93-year-old
Buffett
said
Berkshire’s
group
of
diversified,
quality
businesses
should
provide
“slightly
better”
performance
than
the
average
U.S.
company,
but
anything
more
than
that
is
unlikely.
‘With
our
present
mix
of
businesses,
Berkshire
should
do
a
bit
better
than
the
average
American
corporation
and,
more
important,
should
also
operate
with
materially
less
risk
of
permanent
loss
of
capital,”
Buffett
said.
“Anything
beyond
‘slightly
better,’
though,
is
wishful
thinking.”
Berkshire
recently
hit
consecutive
record
highs,
trading
above
$620,000
for
Class
A
shares
and
boasting
a
market
value
above
$900
billion.
The
conglomerate’s
stock
has
gained
about
16%
in
2024,
more
than
double
the S&P
500′s
return,
after
climbing
16%
in
all
of
2023.
