...Warren Buffett, 2005 Executive Summary On May 24, 2005, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chief executive officer Warren Buffett announced the acquisition of PacifiCorp by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., for about $9.4 billion in cash, liabilities, and preferred stock. The announcement led to a market value gain of $2.55 billion . Buffett was a well respected businessman with a successful investment philosophy. His philosophy included accounting with economic realty, acknowledging opportunity cost, assessing the time value of money, and scoring performance by intrinsic gain, along with other principles. Buffet was a believer in diversification; he helped Berkshire attain a diverse portfolio that included investments in insurance companies, apparel manufacturers, and grocery distributers. Though highly successful in the past, Buffett was frustrated after a few-year period that resulted in a lack of major investment by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Rather than focus on investments that yielded short term gains, Buffett was waiting for an “elephant” investment opportunity to present itself. Buffett hoped to have found just that in the PacifiCorp acquisition. Problem Buffett badly wanted to make a significant gain for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. However, Buffett needed to consider if PacifiCorp was worth his cash offer of $5.1 billion. Should the investment be undertaken? Analysis As mentioned above, the announcement of the acquisition was met...
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...Warren Buffett and Gillette Background of the Active Investor Warren Buffett is known as one of the world’s most notable investors. He is a self-made investor, now worth billions of dollars. Buffets premise is that people should base their investing on common sense and search out assets that are selling for less than they are worth (Pardoe, 2005). At an early age Buffett had a knack for making money. At six year old, Buffett made a five cent profit by purchasing a six-pack of Coca-Cola for twenty-five cent and reselling each bottle for a nickel. At eleven, he purchased three shares of Cities Service at $38 per share. Shortly after buying the stock, it fell to just over $27 per share (Kennon). When the shares rebounded to $40 he sold the shares, but regretted his actions when the shares shot up to $200. The experience taught him that patience is a virtue (Kennon). Buffett was a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Some time after graduation, Buffett had the opportunity to work for his mentor, Ben Graham, on Wall Street. There, he spent his day analyzing S&P reports, searching for investment opportunities (Kennon). He took a different interest than that of his mentor, he became interested in how a company worked, what made it superior to competitors and observed how the company was managed when deciding to invest; he was not interested in the corporate leadership of the companies he researched and invested in. In the mid-1950’s Buffett aligned himself...
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...Shehzad Chowdhury Don Taylor Seminar: Issues in Corp Finance 01/31/2015 Warren Buffet Case This case study talks about Warren Buffets’s Berkshire Hathaway company; initially, it discuses regarding the possible meaning of the alters in stock price for Berkshire Hathaway and Scottish Power plc on the day of the acquisition announcement is for the reason to the truth that the deal formed value for both consumers and suppliers; In addition, Berkshire was extra expanded subsequent to the acquisition. The $2.55 billion gain in Berkshire’s market value of equity oblique that the basic value of PacifiCorp was fine since it cut down within the range of challengers supported on the subsequent result, which is $2.55 billion divided by 312 and 312 again divided by 18 million gives $8.17.Next, Berkshire is keen to give this premium for every share of PacifiCorp 5.1 billion divided by 312.18 million that results $16.30 per share of PacifiCorp $8.17 plus 16.30 equals $24.47. Later, we discover the range of likely values for PacifiCorp in Exhibit 10 as follows: Revenue median of $6.252 Billion, average of $6.584 Billion, EBIT median of $8.775 Billion, average of $9.289 Billion, EBITDA median of $9.023 Billion, average of $9.076 Billion, Net Income median of $7.596 Billion, average of $7.553 Billion, EPS median of $4.277 Billion, and a mean of $4.308 Billion and Book value median of $5.904 Billion, mean of $5.678 Billion. The Question about income; the implied worth of PacifiCorp is giving...
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...Advantage Anything that prevents a business’ extraordinary return on capital from being whittled down to mediocrity by the ravages of competition. Where a business enjoys a durable competitive advantage it is said to have a franchise. Sometimes, a business will have a durable competitive advantage without earning an extraordinary return on capital in the aggregate. In a few cases, a business will have a durable competitive advantage without earning an extraordinary return on capital in any line of business. It is even possible for a currently unprofitable business to have a durable competitive advantage. But, this is a very special case. For instance, an unprofitable business may have a durable competitive advantage if it is the low – cost operator in an inefficient, highly fragmented industry, if and only if, the sole cause of unprofitability is inadequate sales volume. This is most likely to be true in an industry where efficient, low cost operations can only be carried out after a substantial infrastructure investment and can not be sustained at a low sales volume. In such a case, it would not be surprising to see the established, efficient (and unprofitable) business secure a dominant share of the fragmented industry and earn an extraordinary return on capital once sales volume has increased. Where a marginal sale is ridiculously profitable, advertising costs will serve to entrench the position of the business with the highest volume and the lowest costs. ...
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...Case 1: Warren Buffet a) Buffett portrays intrinsic value as “The only logical way to evaluate the relative attractiveness of investments and businesses.” (Bruner et al, 2009 p.7) It has accorded such importance because it can be used to estimate the value of the businesses ongoing operations and not the companies stock. Through the calculation of the discounted cash flows, and moreover the net present value of the forecasted performance, we can therefore figure out whether the investment holds the potential to generate value. By comparing these amounts to ones within the market and therefore being able to identify certain businesses that are very undervalued. The alternatives of valuing an investment include calculating the book value or accounting profit. Buffett rejects the alternatives to intrinsic value because he believes that the conventional accounting approach or methods follow certain rules that do not accurately forecast the future of the investments performance. (b) The very essence of Buffett’s investment philosophy is that of his use of intrinsic value to determine the quality and future value of an investment, instead of basing it on accounting reality. However, accounting profit should be used hand in hand with intrinsic value because it helps clarify managements skills and how they put their capital to use. Buffett calculates the discounted cash flows of the particular company, therefore understanding its economic reality. Rather than the financial statements...
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...Course No: C-501 Course Name: Managerial Communication A Report on Business Communication Method of Warren Buffett Prepared For: Mr. Zahid Hassan Khan Associate professor, Institute of Business Administration University of Dhaka Prepared By: Md.Tazul Islam Roll:133 Batch:46D Date of Submission: 11-12-2011 Executive Summary: Warren Buffett is considered as one of the most successful investors of the market. A man who started his journey as an investor at the age of 13, continued to cross hurdles of his business carrier. It's annual report season, which includes announcements from the CEO and/or chairman of every public U.S. company. Given that Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is the most successful investor of all time, you might expect that a 23-page communication from him would be jargon-packed and over most people’s heads. In actuality, Buffett's annual letter to shareholders is famously down-to-earth, conversational, and witty. Never mind for now the specific points he makes: how he communicates his message is a lesson for all of us. Warren Buffett writes his letter to shareholders as a letter to his sisters - then crosses out "Dear Doris and Bertie" and replaces it with "To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway". It’s not enough that Warren Buffett has become one of the richest men in the world. He’s also a world-class communicator – and nowhere does this gift go on public display more than in his annual letter to shareholders...
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...QUT | Case Study 4: Market Efficiency | Bill Miller and Value Trust | | Name: Huey Ngu Student ID: 08324093Tutor Name: David FairDate: 1 November 2013 | Words: 1097 | Contents Introduction 2 Past and current performance of Value Trust 2 Investment strategy of Bill Miller 3 Efficient Market Hypothesis 3 Bill Miller’s letter to shareholders 4 Changes in Chief Investment Officer (CIO) 4 Recommendation and Conclusion 4 Reference 6 Appendices 8 Appendix A: Data of LMVTX, S&P 500, and 30 years bond 8 Appendix B: Alpha and Beta between 1991 and 2013 9 Appendix C: Alpha and Beta between 1991 and 2005 9 Appendix D: Alpha and Beta between 2006 and 2013 9 Introduction Bill Miller is known as famous fund manager that hold the record of beating benchmark index for 15 years in a row. However, his poor performance after 2005 was the reason that the investors run away from his fund. Hence, arguments of whether Bill Miller’s previous performances involve luck or skills appear. Furthermore, this report will also discuss whether investors should invest in Bill Miller’s Value Trust. Past and current performance of Value Trust Figure [ 1 ]: LMVTX VS S&P500 (Morningstar Principia , 2013) Bill Miller had made an achievement of longest streak performance of beating the market. Refer to figure 1, it had showed that Bill Miller’s Value Trust had consistently beat the benchmark index of Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) between 1991 and...
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...The Buffett Approach to Valuing Stocks Focusing on return on capital may be the key to investment success. By Steven R. Ferraro, CFA, PhD 2009 Volume 12 Issue 3 Much has been written about famed U.S. investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett’s investment style and successes. Preeminent among these writings are the oft-cited Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters, written by the “Oracle of Omaha” himself. These informative letters have been the basis for a multitude of books. But even with an abundance of available information on “how to invest like Warren Buffett,” it is apparent that something is lacking, how does Buffett determine an acceptable price for companies of interest? This article provides an example of the process Buffett is reported to go though to determine the intrinsic value of a publicly traded company. Photo: Bogdan Radenkovic Starting at the Beginning Before we get our hands dirty with the valuation aspects of the investment decision, let us review a brief outline of the qualitative and quantitative aspects of Buffett’s decision process as observed by Robert G. Hagstrom.[1] This map helps us navigate the turbulent waters of Wall Street and is comprised of business, management, financial, and market tenets. Investment Tenets Business • Is the business simple and understandable? • Does the business have a consistent operating history? • Does the business have favorable long-term prospects? Management • Is management...
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...paper we discuss the fundamental analysis by covering a number of studies in this field of research. This constitutes a useful tool to evaluate the companies’ financial performance. Particularly, the discussion in this paper illustrates how this kind of approach can help in analyzing a companies’ stock price. Additionally, a debate on its potentialities is also provided. Keywords – Fundamental Analysis, Return on Equity, Return on Investment, Price Earnings Ratio, Price to Book Value # foreign competition in a particular sector in order to identify the best company of the sector. ii) Bottom-up approach: in this method, the analyst starts the searching analysis within a specific sector irrespective of its industry/region. The fundamental analysis is carried out with the aim of predicting company’s future performance. It is based on the belief that the market price of an asset tends to move towards its “real value” or its “intrinsic value”. Thus, if the intrinsic value of an asset is higher than its market value, there may be a situation where it is time to buy. Otherwise, investors should sell. In the next section, the theoretical framework of the fundamental analysis is reviewed. The paper ends with a section where the main conclusions are drawn. 1. Introduction This paper focuses on the important issue of fundamental analysis, where a selection of ratios is discussed on a long-term basis. Our study aims to provide a critical analysis of the state of the art of the...
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...this course, students should understand and be able to do the following: 1. Estimate the cost of capital for corporate investment decisions; 2. Make corporate investment decisions using discounted cash flow method; 3. Manage working capital and corporate long-term growth. Supplemental Learning Outcomes: While not assessed, it is anticipated that students will develop the following: 4. Understand the importance of corporate governance for achieving long-term corporate financial objectives and valuation; 5. Understand some unique features of Chinese capital markets. TEACHING AND LEARNING The course will be a mixture of lectures, case discussions and individual and group practices. Students are expected to do the following. 1. 2. 3. 4. Read the assigned textbook chapters BEFORE the classes. Prepare for cases BEFORE case discussions, and submit case work as required. Do homework. Actively engage in class discussions. METHOD AND WEIGHTING OF ASSESSMENT In this course, students are evaluated by the following means of assessment: In-class participation (10%) Participation in class discussion, group discussion,...
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...University of Lethbridge Calgary Campus Faculty of Management Management 4430Y Financial Management Spring 2011 A.P. Palasvirta Office: Markin 4132, Lethbridge Phone: (403) 332-4582 e-mail: oz.palasvirta@uleth.ca Goal of Course Management 4430 is the capstone course in finance and will incorporate concepts you have learned in through your study of corporate, investments, and international. We will utilize the case methodology to focus our analysis. Cases describe a context in which a particular problem is found. Regardless of the particular characteristics of the problem, problem solving follows a general methodology: identification of the problem, describing the context of the problem, analysis of potential alternative solutions, the identification of the best solution, implementation of the best solution , and the creation of controls and contingency plans, if applicable. Text and Other Sources: E-book based on Case Studies in Finance, 6th ed., 2010, McGraw Hill, Toronto, ISBN Prerequisites Management 3412, Fundamentals of Investments Investments, Analysis & Management, 2nd Canadian Ed., 2005, Cleary & Jones, John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd., Mississauga ISBN 0-470-83542-7 Management 3460, Corporate Finance Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 6th Canadian Ed., 2007, Ross, Westerfield, Jordan, & Roberts, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto ISBN 13: 978-0-07-095910-1 A list of topics for which you should have working knowledge follows: ...
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...bru6171X_case02_023-038.qxd 11/24/12 2:24 PM Page 23 CASE 2 Bill Miller and Value Trust Bill Miller’s success is so far off the charts that you have to ask whether it is superhuman. Quite simply, fund managers are not supposed to be this good. Is it mortal genius, or is it celestial luck?1 By the middle of 2005, Value Trust, an $11.2-billion mutual fund2 managed by William H. (Bill) Miller III, had outperformed its benchmark index, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500), for an astonishing 14 years in a row. This record marked the longest streak of success for any manager in the mutual-fund industry; the next longest period of sustained performance was only half as long. For many fund managers, simply beating the S&P 500 in any single year would have been an accomplishment, yet Miller had achieved consistently better results during both the bull markets of the late 1990s and the bear markets of the early 2000s. Over the previous 15 years, investors in Value Trust, one of a family of funds managed by the Baltimore, Maryland–based Legg Mason, Inc., could look back on the fund’s remarkable returns: an average annual total return of 14.6%, which surpassed the S&P 500 by 3.67% per year. An investment of $10,000 in Value Trust at its inception, in April 1982, would have grown to more than $330,000 by March 2005. Unlike the fund’s benchmark, which was a capitalization-weighted index composed of 500 widely held common stocks, Value Trust only had...
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...FIN 4414 Financial Management Course Syllabus Spring 2010 Term INSTRUCTOR: Dr. T. Craig Tapley Graham-Buffett Master Lecturer of Finance Section: Section: Room: 2109 – Monday and Wednesday, Periods 3-4 (9:35 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.) 7111 – Monday and Wednesday, Periods 5-6 (11:45 a.m. – 1:40 p.m.) 112 Matherly Hall Office Hours: Wednesday (2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.) Thursday (1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.) CONTACT INFORMATION: Office: Phone: Fax: E-Mail: 329 David Stuzin Hall (352) 392-6654 (352) 392-5237 ctapley@ufl.edu http://vista.courses.ufl.edu/ Class Webpage: COURSE MATERIALS: TEXTBOOK 1. Financial Management: Theory and Practice (12th Edition), Eugene F. Brigham and Michael C. Ehrhardt, Thompson/South-Western, 2008, ISBN: 0-324-42269-5. The official textbook for the class will be an excellent reference book as you start your career, as you may easily find that there will be times, on the job, when you need to reference prior material, or formulas, covered in your corporate finance classes at UF. However, books have become somewhat expensive, so you may, instead, purchase the 11th or 10th Edition of the book, typically at a cheaper price, through various online booksellers. However, there are minor differences between the 10th, 11th, and 12th editions; mainly in the order of the chapter. These differences should not impact your ability to perform well in this class, but you may need to map the chapters in the 10th or 11th Edition to those assigned in the 12th Edition. This is...
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...We will be discussing business ethics and social responsibility in our presentation today, and relating these theories specifically to the News of the World phone hacking scandal that broke in 2007. This scandal involved journalists and editors of the publication, News of the World illegally hacking into people's phones in order to access information that would not have been available to them otherwise. Though exact numbers are not known, lists of phones were confiscated listing thousands of mobile numbers, including the numbers of members of the royal family, some celebrities and the families of soldiers, terror and murder victims (BBC News UK, 2013). The scandal was further complicated when members of the London Metropolitan police engaged in behaviour that covered up or misrepresented the legality of the actions undertaken by the paper (BBC News UK, 2013). So to start, what are business ethics and social responsibility? Ethics are not easy to define. They represent a social contract between individuals of a given community, and define what a person ought, and conversely ought not, to do, (Andre & Velasques 1987). However, ethics are not defined by individuals, but rather represent the values of the largest majority. This means that the things an individual values may not be congruent with acting ethically as is defined by the community. This conflict is representative of an ethical dilema. This occurs when an individuals values contradict the behaviour that the code of ethics...
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...has survived many seemingly insurmountable obstacles, including: the Great Depression, civil war, the advent of automobiles and airplanes and federal regulation. Federal regulation took the largest toll on the industry as it restricted the ability of the industry to adapt to future demands and market requirements. The growth of rail was stunted by 100 years of federal regulation and since the Staggers Act of 1980 which led to deregulation, the industry has been struggling to recover. After the implementation of the Staggers Act the industry has undergone serious reconstruction which has increased the overall performance and reliability of rail. As service levels improve the demand for low rates and large capacity hauls has skyrocketed. One study suggests that by 2035 the demand to move tonnage by railroads will increase by 88 percent, requiring a $135 billion investment to meet this increased demand (Nealer, Matthews, & Hendrickson, 2012). The increase in demand is a result of growing environmental consciousness and extreme scrutiny on the trucking industry. Rail provides long term environmental...
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