Warren Buffett on being a 'business-picker' and defending buybacks: Highlights from his annual letter to shareholders

Published Sat, Feb 25 202310:00 AM ESTUpdated Sat, Feb 25 202310:06 AM EST

Warren Buffett released his latest annual shareholder letter for Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday. The chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said he would continue to bet on America, even after reporting operating profits that fell during the fourth quarter . Greater inflationary pressures weighed on the the firm's various businesses. Meanwhile, buyback activity slowed for the year as Berkshire made some notable deals in 2022, such as the acquisition of property-casualty insurer Alleghany for $11.6 billion, his biggest since 2016. The billionaire investor maintained an optimistic view on future investment activities, highlighting his stakes in American firms such as American Express, Coca-Cola and Paramount Global — each of which Berkshire is the largest owner. "I have been investing for 80 years – more than one-third of our country's lifetime. Despite our citizens' penchant – almost enthusiasm – for self-criticism and self-doubt, I have yet to see a time when it made sense to make a long-term bet against America," Buffett wrote in his letter. "And I doubt very much that any reader of this letter will have a different experience in the future." Here are more highlights from the highly-anticipated letter. 'Business-pickers,' not stock pickers "Our goal in both forms of ownership is to make meaningful investments in businesses with both long-lasting favorable economic characteristics and trustworthy managers. Please note particularly that we own publicly-traded stocks based on our expectations about their long-term business performance, not because we view them as vehicles for adroit purchases and sales. That point is crucial: Charlie and I are not stock-pickers; we are business-pickers." On his acquisition of insurer Alleghany "A second positive development for Berkshire last year was our purchase of Alleghany Corporation, a property-casualty insurer captained by Joe Brandon. I've worked with Joe in the past, and he understands both Berkshire and insurance. Alleghany delivers special value to us because Berkshire's unmatched financial strength allows its insurance subsidiaries to follow valuable and enduring investment strategies unavailable to virtually all competitors. Aided by Alleghany, our insurance float increased during 2022 from $147 billion to $164 billion. With disciplined underwriting, these funds have a decent chance of being cost-free over time. Since purchasing our first property-casualty insurer in 1967, Berkshire's float has increased 8,000-fold through acquisitions, operations and innovations." Largest owner in eight American firms — including Paramount "At yearend 2022, Berkshire was the largest owner of eight of these giants: American Express, Bank of America, Chevron, Coca-Cola, HP Inc., Moody's, Occidental Petroleum and Paramount Global." No reason to make a long-term bet against America "I have been investing for 80 years – more than one-third of our country's lifetime. Despite our citizens' penchant – almost enthusiasm – for self-criticism and self-doubt, I have yet to see a time when it made sense to make a long-term bet against America. And I doubt very much that any reader of this letter will have a different experience in the future." Buffett's willingness to pay taxes "At Berkshire we hope and expect to pay much more in taxes during the next decade. We owe the country no less: America's dynamism has made a huge contribution to whatever success Berkshire has achieved – a contribution Berkshire will always need. We count on the American Tailwind and, though it has been becalmed from time to time, its propelling force has always returned." 'Disgusting' results manipulation "Finally, an important warning: Even the operating earnings figure that we favor can easily be manipulated by managers who wish to do so. Such tampering is often thought of as sophisticated by CEOs, directors and their advisors. Reporters and analysts embrace its existence as well. Beating 'expectations' is heralded as a managerial triumph. That activity is disgusting. It requires no talent to manipulate numbers: Only a deep desire to deceive is required. 'Bold imaginative accounting,' as a CEO once described his deception to me, has become one of the shames of capitalism." Buffett defends stock buybacks "Gains from value-accretive repurchases, it should be emphasized, benefit all owners – in every respect. Imagine, if you will, three fully-informed shareholders of a local auto dealership, one of whom manages the business. Imagine, further, that one of the passive owners wishes to sell his interest back to the company at a price attractive to the two continuing shareholders. When completed, has this transaction harmed anyone? Is the manager somehow favored over the continuing passive owners? Has the public been hurt? When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive)." Buffett: "Nothing Beats Having a Great Partner" "Nothing Beats Having a Great Partner. Charlie and I think pretty much alike. But what it takes me a page to explain, he sums up in a sentence. His version, moreover, is always more clearly reasoned and also more artfully – some might add bluntly – stated. Here are a few of his thoughts, many lifted from a very recent podcast: • The world is full of foolish gamblers, and they will not do as well as the patient investor. • If you don't see the world the way it is, it's like judging something through a distorted lens. • All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there. And a related thought: Early on, write your desired obituary – and then behave accordingly. • If you don't care whether you are rational or not, you won't work on it. Then you will stay irrational and get lousy results. • Patience can be learned. Having a long attention span and the ability to concentrate on one thing for a long time is a huge advantage. • You can learn a lot from dead people. Read of the deceased you admire and detest. • Don't bail away in a sinking boat if you can swim to one that is seaworthy. • A great company keeps working after you are not; a mediocre company won't do that. • Warren and I don't focus on the froth of the market. We seek out good long-term investments and stubbornly hold them for a long time. • Ben Graham said, "Day to day, the stock market is a voting machine; in the long term it's a weighing machine." If you keep making something more valuable, then some wise person is going to notice it and start buying. • There is no such thing as a 100% sure thing when investing. Thus, the use of leverage is dangerous. A string of wonderful numbers times zero will always equal zero. Don't count on getting rich twice. • You don't, however, need to own a lot of things in order to get rich. • You have to keep learning if you want to become a great investor. When the world changes, you must change. • Warren and I hated railroad stocks for decades, but the world changed and finally the country had four huge railroads of vital importance to the American economy. We were slow to recognize the change, but better late than never. • Finally, I will add two short sentences by Charlie that have been his decision-clinchers for decades: "Warren, think more about it. You're smart and I'm right." And so it goes. I never have a phone call with Charlie without learning something. And, while he makes me think, he also makes me laugh. * * * * * * * * * * * * I will add to Charlie's list a rule of my own: Find a very smart high-grade partner – preferably slightly older than you – and then listen very carefully to what he says." America would 'have done fine' without Berkshire "In 1965, Berkshire was a one-trick pony, the owner of a venerable – but doomed – New England textile operation. With that business on a death march, Berkshire needed an immediate fresh start. Looking back, I was slow to recognize the severity of its problems. And then came a stroke of good luck: National Indemnity became available in 1967, and we shifted our resources toward insurance and other non-textile operations. Thus began our journey to 2023, a bumpy road involving a combination of continuous savings by our owners (that is, by their retaining earnings), the power of compounding, our avoidance of major mistakes and – most important of all – the American Tailwind. America would have done fine without Berkshire. The reverse is not true."