Money and Finance
Why Buffett is Betting on the Railroads
A great find by Shai at the Reflections blog. There are some interesting thoughts in the article on Burlington’s moat and the long-term nature of its cap-ex – which may help to explain Mr. Buffett’s purchase in light of his more recent comments on higher inflation expectations and his past comments about how severe inflation hurts businesses that have to keep reinvesting in cap-ex during inflationary times. Maybe the business categories aren’t just ‘capital intensive businesses’ versus ‘non-capital intensive businesses’ and that during times when there is a significant risk of inflation within a few years, the nature of cap-ex is almost as important as the cap-ex itself. The end of the article discusses some of the cap-ex Burlington has made since 1995.
Link to: Why Buffett is Betting on the Railroads
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What Distinguishes A First-class Business From An Ordinary Business?
From Deep Value: In a cruel irony, most good businesses earning high returns on invested capital can’t absorb much incremental capital without reducing those high returns, while most bad businesses earning low returns on invested capital require all...
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Berkshire Profit Benefits From Shift To Rail, Utilities
Warren Buffett’s shift toward businesses like railroads and power production that provide steady profits is paying off for his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Earnings from Burlington Northern Santa Fe and MidAmerican Energy Holdings accounted for $1.46 billion,...
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Inflation May Be Coming. Time To Look For A Hedge. - By Whitney Tilson And John Heins
Because inflation hasn't afflicted America in some 30 years, it's worth reviewing what rising prices might mean for stock investors. In a 1977 article on the subject in Fortune, Warren Buffett went to great lengths to disabuse shareholders of...
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Is Warren Buffett Worried About Hyperinflation?
It is interesting to review the couple of questions and answers pasted below from the Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Investor Day earlier this year, considering that Mr. Buffett has recently bought Berkshire Hathaway a railroad and significantly increased...
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Warren Buffett’s Comments On Inflation
Many well known and respected gurus in the value community – such as Warren Buffett, Seth Klarman, and Jim Grant, to name a few – have mentioned the risk of high inflation that could result from all of the government-led stimulus. In Poor Charlie’s...
Money and Finance