Warren Buffett just dropped Walmart and...

[tsptalk]

Warren Buffett just dropped Walmart and signaled the death of retail as we know it

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway just sold off $900 million of Walmart stock, choosing to invest billions in airline stocks instead.

The sale, which leaves Buffett with nearly no shares in Walmart, comes as America's largest traditional retailer has been rushing to catch up to Amazon and other online competitors. Amazon's market value is now $356 billion, compared with Walmart's $298 billion.

Warren Buffett just dropped Walmart and signaled the death of retail as we know it

 

[Bullitt]

WMT up 58% since this post.

 

[tsptalk]

WMT up 58% since this post.

I don't know his holdings, and somehow I doubt he owns Amazon, but in comparison, AMZN was up 149% during that same time. I wonder how those airlines stocks did in Walmart's place.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway just sold off $900 million of Walmart stock, choosing to invest billions in airline stocks instead.

 

[Bullitt]

I wonder how those airlines stocks did in Walmart's place.

:blink:

Unfortunately, it has not been the only mistake the world’s one-time greatest investor has made recently. Thanks to holding much of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio in out-of-fashion value stocks in an age of growth obsession, its shares have underperformed for a decade. They are up 126 per cent in the past 10 years. That sounds fine — until you look at the S&P 500 index, which is up 140 per cent.

On the plus side, the fact that even Warren Buffett has been caught with the wrong portfolio as the music stopped should come as some reassurance to many others in the same boat.

https://www.ft.com/content/be507174-91eb-4c31-9d2c-eb353a195552

 

[tsptalk]

The link is to a pay site, but I get the drift. Selling Wal-mart for airlines in February couldn't have gone worse for the Oracle of Omaha. Bad moves - been there done that.

 

[Bullitt]

Yes, but honestly, I'm so tired of the headlines of whenever Buffet buys something. What investors don't realize is that he often gets favorable terms (preferred shares with massive dividend) for his investment.

It is amazing how the man buys dividend stocks, but refuses to pay a dividend to shareholders. That maybe didn't matter when he was outperforming since that money was better off in his hands to reinvest in other opportunities. The latest missteps prove his operation is not infallible.

Like 2009, there are more opportunities in value than momentum. Those who bought beaten down stocks with high dividends that were not cut made out pretty well the past 10 years. The problem is it takes luck to pick those companies as having inside information like Berkshire sometimes isn't enough.