Warren Buffett can’t find bargains the way he used to. On Saturday, his Berkshire Hathaway reported its cash pile reached $147 billion while operating profits jumped 7% year-on-year to $10 billion in the second quarter.
That’s a solid performance, but the growing hoard of cash, nearing a record level, is an ongoing “problem” for the Oracle of Omaha—albeit a nice one to have. It suggests his conglomerate is struggling to find bargains in acquisitions or the stock market amid high valuations.
One way Berkshire has addressed this is by more aggressively pursuing stock buybacks, which it did to the tune of $1.4 billion in the second quarter over $4 billion in the previous quarter. But with Berkshire’s share price rising, that strategy—which Buffett once shunned—has grown less attractive.
As for the many business units under Berkshire’s umbrella—including in insurance, railroads, and utilities—Buffett warned at its annual meeting in May that the majority of them could…
2023-08-06 13:33:59
Original from finance.yahoo.com
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