Tag: AAPL

Warren Buffett’s Recent Stock Portfolio Changes

by Fred Fuld III

Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB), is one of the richest men in the world and one of the most followed investment professional.

Many long term investors pay close attention to his stock moves and the Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio, and often follow in his footsteps.

Here are his recent changes:

He sold off over 57 million shares of Apple (AAPL), but the stock still makes up over 43% of his portfolio and his largest holding.

He added 88 million shares of Verizon (VZ) to his current holdings in the company.

He sold off more than 800,000 shares of US Bancorp (USB), but still owns131 million  shares.

He added 4 million shares of Chevron (CVX) to his current stockholdings.

He reduced his General Motors holdings (GM) by 7.5 million shares.

He sold off a substantial amount of his holdings in Wells Fargo (WFC), about 75 million shares.

He bought more shares of Abbvie (ABBV), Merck (MRK), Kroger (KR), Restoration Hardware (RH), T-Mobile (TMUS), Marsh & McLennan (MMC), and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY).

He sold 5 million shares of Suncor (SU).

Finally, he closed out his entire positions in JP Morgan Chase (JPM), M&T Bank (MTB), Barrick Gold (ABX), PNC Financial (PNC), and Pfizer (PFE).

To se Warren Buffett’s portfolio, click HERE. Let’s see if you can outperform Warren Buffett this year.

 

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, MRK, and PFE.

What’s the biggest mistake that stock market investors make?

by Fred Fuld III

The biggest mistake that investors make is selling too soon. If you have invested in a great company, and you have a decent profit, there is no reason to sell just because you have made money on it. Let me give you a couple examples of mistakes I have made so that you can learn from them.

Many years ago, when I was in the financial services industry, I was selling a lot of the Franklin Municipal Bond Funds and Franklin GNMA Funds. I went to visit the Franklin Mutual Funds headquarters (the company was in its old building at the time) to do some due diligence, and meet with the broker liaison at the company. When I was given a tour of the place, I noticed that walls were being knocked down, four people were sharing a small office designed for one person, and cables were literally being run down the hallways by installers right in front of me.

My first thought was “Wow,” this company is growing like crazy. I should check and see if Franklin Resources (BEN) is publicly traded. It was, on the Pink Sheets. (This was way before it was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.) I bought a couple hundred shares at about $7 per share, and it shortly rose to $8.

Also, at that time, I just bought a rental property. I thought at the time that I should probably sell the Franklin stock in case I needed the funds for the property, plus I had just made a 14% profit in a short period of time. I actually didn’t need the funds for the property down payment since I bought the property for nothing down (another story).

Since that time, the stock has had nine stock splits based on my calculation. If I had just kept the stock and forgot about it, my $1500 original investment would now be worth over $451,285, by my estimation, even after the stock dropped from $58 per share down to $21 per share over the last six years.

By the way, this extremely high return does not even include the dividends that I would have received over the years, which would obviously have boosted my return even higher. The stock currently yields over 5% right now.

I have another example. I had 100 shares of Boston Beer Company (SAM) that I held in multiple certificates. I had paid about $30 a share for the stock back in 2009. The next year, it rose to $90 a share. I thought that tripling my money in such a short period was a pretty good return, actually a fantastic return, so I thought, why not take all these certificates in to my broker and liquidate them.

While I was in the brokerage firm and one of the representatives was preparing a receipt for me including making copies of every certificate, another representative came over and said “What the hell is with all these certificates?” When he was making these rude comments, I seriously considered picking up my certificates, and leaving, but I didn’t, unfortunately. I wanted to take my profit. The stock is now trading over $643 a share. My original $3,000 would now be worth $64,300 in just one decade.

I could tell you one more story about Apple (AAPL) stock, but it would make you sick. It makes me sick whenever I think about it.

Anyway, the point that I am making is that the dollar amount of profit and the percentage amount of profit you have in a stock is irrelevant. If you believe in the company, there is no reason to sell it, unless you are very desperate for money. And if you are that desperate, see if you can get by with selling half.

Yes, you may read about the mistakes of holding on to losers, and not bailing out early. Maybe you lose $5,000 or $10,000 on a stock that goes to zero. But it is the big long term winners that pay for all those losses, and still provide huge returns.

Here is the best way to tell if you should sell a stock. Imagine that you didn’t own the stock but you have the money to invest in it. Would you buy it today? If the answer is yes, hold on to the stock. If the answer is no, sell it.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL and SAM.

Warren Buffett Sold 750,000 Shares of Apple, But It’s Still His Largest Holding

by Fred Fuld III

Famous investor and multi-billionaire Warren Buffett has sold over 750,000 shares of Apple (AAPL) during the latest reported quarter, however it is still the largest holding in his Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB) stock portfolio.

As a matter of fact, Apple makes up 26% of the Berkshire portfolio. He probably didn’t want to get too overweighted in the stock. He first started buying Apple shares near the beginning of 2016 at an average cost of about 150 per share.

Buffett also dumped shares of another stock, Wells Fargo (WFC). He liquidated over 31 million shares of the company, so now the stock makes up less than 9% of the Berkshire portfolio.

The Oracle of Omaha made no changes to the second and third largest holdings, Bank of America (BAC), and Coca-Cola (KO). Same with the fifth largest, American Express (AXP).

It is interesting to note that the above five mentioned stocks make up over 65% of the total Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio.

If you want to see a list of all the stocks in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio, you can go to the following link:

Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway Stocks

 

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, BRKB, BAC, & KO.

 

Are You Watching the Streaming Video Stocks?

by Fred Fuld III

Could you have imagined 15 years ago that you would have the ability to watch almost any movie or TV show whenever you want, as many times as you want, and could pause it and replay parts of it, without having to insert a disc into a player, would you have believed it?

Most major films and television programs can now be watched on your smart TV, you computer, your laptop, and even your phone. Several companies are benefiting from this major trend, providing investors with stocks that they should keep an eye on.

Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime Video is an Internet video on demand service that offers television shows and films for rent or purchase and Prime Video, a group of Amazon Studios original content and licensed acquisitions including Bosch, The Man in the High Castle, Sneaky Pete, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Amazon trades at 64 times forward earnings, and revenues for the latest reported quarter jumped by almost 20% year-over-year.

Netflix (NFLX) is the biggest pure play in this arena, having around 140 million subscribers. The company also has extensive original programming including stand-up comedy specials. The stock trades at 88 times forward earnings. Sales for the latest quarter went up by over 27%.

Streaming video is a small but growing piece of Disney (DIS) which owns 60% of Hulu, in addition to its own streaming services. Like Netflix and Amazon, Hulu has its own original content. Disney has a very reasonable forward price to earnings ratio of 16, and even pays a dividend of 1.53%.

Of course, video streaming is a small part of a lot of large companies, such as Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and YouTube, owned by Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), better known as Google.

Let’s watch and see which company will be the best performer.

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN, AAPL, and DIS.

Report on the Apple Annual Meeting

by Fred Fuld III

Last Friday, I attended the Apple (AAPL) Annual Meeting, held in the Steve Jobs Theater by the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.

All directors were approved, and other proposals with a recommendation of FOR passed, and recommendations AGAINST did not pass, with a lot of discussion about Proposal 5, True Diversity Board Policy.

After the formal part of the meeting, Tim Cook came out to speak and answer questions. He started out by saying that in 2018, revenues were $262 billion, a $22 billion or 9% increase over the previous year. Growth took place in all categories and regions, with a 1.4 billion installed base now.

iPhone

The iPhone has a 900 million installed base worldwide with revenues of $155 billion. The iPhone XR is the most popular, with the liquid retina display and the A12 biochip. It has the longest battery life of any of the phones. It has a customer satisfaction rating of 99%. Apple is “working on the last one percent.”

Service

The services business had $31 billion in revenues. They expect it to double by 2020.

App Store

The app store is doing well. $120 billion has been paid to developers. Amazing since in 2008, this market didn’t even exist.

Apple Pay

Apple Pay is in 29 markets, with a doubling of usage, and 350 million subscriptions. A new iPad is being released this month. It measures 9.7 inches, with a target audience of the education market. It is priced at $299. There are two new models of the iPad Pro.

The Mac has had an all-time record year.

Wearables

The wearables, which includes the Apple Watch and the AirPods, grew 50% last year.

Investments

$14 billion was spent on R&D last year, and 18 companies were purchased.

Apple is investing across the US, spending $1 billion in Austin, Texas for more work space, along with Culver City, Portland, San Diego, New York, and Pittsburgh.

Dividends

The company is committed to increasing dividends annually, and they are currently double what they were when they first started paying.

Values

They are now using 100% renewable energy around the world.

The company is partnering with Malala Fund, which seeks to secure education for girls around the world. It is also involved with the Everyone Can Code curriculum for students beginning in 3rd grade for kids to easily learn coding. The curriculum is also being accepted in community colleges. The company is also involved with the Everyone Can Create program , which integrates creativity with math and science.

Health

Cook sees the health area as a major opportunity for growth. The company is working with the Veteran’s Administration to get patient records on the iPhone. The Apple Watch is expanding its use in wellness and health.

Apple’s goal is to have all future products use recycled substances.

Tim Cook

Tim Cook’s final comments about hiring, politics, and privacy:

Apple hires based on “skills, capabilities, and contributions”

“We’re capitalists”

“We believe in privacy”

No PACs

“We don’t donate one penny to political campaigns”

“Privacy is the most important issue of the century. We view it as a human right.”

“I’m a free market guy but we’re going for regulation” regarding privacy

“Everyone should have dual factor authentication”

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s Recent Investments

by Nkem Iregbulem

As the third-wealthiest person in the world, Warren Buffett is widely regarded as an investment guru. His investment philosophy is based on the concept of value investing. He is the chairman, CEO, and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, the world’s 10th largest company by revenue. As of 2018, Buffett is estimated to be worth over $80 billion. He is not only an investor but also a dedicated philanthropist. In fact, he has promised to give 99% of his fortune to charitable causes.

Due to his success, Buffett’s stock purchases are closely followed by many other investors. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway recently purchased the stocks of JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Oracle (ORCL), PNC Financial Services Group (PNC), and Travelers Companies (TRV). His company also added to its position in Bank of America (BAC) and Apple (AAPL). These stocks can all be found on the New York Stock Exchange, except for AAPL, which is traded on the NASDAQ exchange.

With more than $2.5 trillion in assets, JP Morgan Chase is one of the largest financial institutions in the United States. The company is segmented into consumer and community banking, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and asset and wealth management. The company was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in New York, but it operates both within and outside of the United States. JP Morgan Chase has a market cap of $360.6B and pays a dividend yield of 2.89%. It trades at 13.70 times trailing earnings and at 11.07 times forward earnings. The stock has a price-to-sales ratio of 3.60, putting it into the overpriced range. It also has price-to-book ratio of 1.59. With its revenue growing each fiscal year since 2015, the company enjoys a 3-year revenue growth rate of 1.56% and a 5-year revenue growth rate of 0.53%.

Founded in 1977 and based in California, Oracle is a computer technology company that sells databases, middleware, applications, hardware, and other enterprise IT solutions. Most of the its revenue comes from software licenses, support, and maintenance, but the company has recently started to shift towards cloud-based subscriptions. Oracle has a market cap of $183.1B and pays a dividend yield of 1.57%. It trades at 49.21 times trailing earnings and at 14.33 times forward earnings. The stock has a price-to-sales ratio of 5.04, so it is considered overpriced. It also has a price-to-book ratio of 4.81. Oracle has a 3-year revenue growth rate of 1.38% and a 5-year revenue growth rate of 1.39% and has seen its revenue increase each fiscal year since 2016.

PNC is a financial services company involved in retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, residential mortgage banking, and asset management. With nearly 2,600 branches in 19 states and D.C., the company stands as the eight-largest bank in the United States — measured by assets. The company was founded in 1845 and is based in Pennsylvania. PNC Financial Services Group has a market cap of $61.4B and pays a dividend yield of 2.86%. The company’s stock trades at 11.17 times trailing earnings and at 11.56 times forward earnings.

It falls into the overpriced range with a price-to-sales ratio of 3.70. The stock also has a price-to-book ratio of 1.30. The company boasts a 3-year revenue growth rate of 2.03% and a 5-year revenue growth rate of 1.03%.

The Travelers Companies is an insurance company that was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in New York. The company segments its business into commercial and personal insurance lines. Under its commercial operations, it provides coverage for primarily midsize businesses. Under its personal line, the company mostly serves car and homeowners. The Travelers Companies has a market cap of $33.8B and pays a dividend yield of 2.40%. It trades at 14.33 times trailing earnings and at 11.26 times forward earnings. The company’s stock has a normal price-to-sales ratio of 1.17 and a price-to-book ratio of 1.51. The company enjoys a 3-year revenue growth rate of 2.08% and a slightly better 5-year revenue growth rate of 2.34% as its revenue has been increasing each fiscal year since 2015.

With over $2 trillion in assets, Bank of America is one of the largest and most well-known financial institutions in the United States. The company’s business operations can be segmented into consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global markets, and global banking. Its lines of business include home mortgage lending, credit and debit cards, investment banking, brokerage services, small-business services, and many others. Headquartered in North Carolina and founded in 1998, Bank of America has a market cap of $267.5B and pays a dividend yield  of 2.19%. The stock trades at 12.98 times trailing earnings and at 9.51 times forward earnings. It has a price-to-sales ratio of 3.20, so the stock falls into the overpriced category. It also has a price-to-book ratio of 1.12. The company has a 3-year revenue growth rate of 0.56% and a 5-year revenue growth rate of 1.46%. Its revenue has been increasing each fiscal year since 2015.

Apple is a large and familiar technology company that was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in California. It designs and sells computer software, online services, and consumer electronics. Its product line of electronics include smartphones, tablets, computers, and smartwatches. The company also provides services such as Apple Music, a music streaming service, and Apple Pay, a mobile payment service. Apple has a market cap of $741.37B and pays a dividend yield of 1.87%. The stock trades at 13.12 times trailing earnings and 11.96 times forward earnings. It has a price-to-sales ratio of 2.94, making it slightly overpriced. The company’s stock also has a price-to-book ratio of 6.92. With its revenue increasing each year over the past few years, the company boasts a 3-year revenue growth rate of 4.35% and an even higher 5-year revenue growth rate of 9.22%. Most of this revenue comes from Apple’s iPhone sales.

Hopefully, one of the richest men in the world can give you some profitable investment ideas.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written. 

Kevin Costner Starred in ‘Ancient’ Apple Ad: Wall Street Video of the Week

Does any one remember what a Lisa Computer was? Has anyone ever touched one? (I did, for a couple hours many years ago.) This was one of the first follies of Steve Jobs. Talk about a clunky, unattractive computer. Anyway, when Apple (AAPL) ran a Lisa television commercial long ago, guess who the star was? Kevin Costner, star of Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, Bull Durham, JFK, and many other movies.

Apple is Now Officially a Trillion Dollar Company

by Fred Fuld III

It’s official. At the time I am writing this, Apple (AAPL) is trading at 206.87. The company has 4,842,917,000 shares issued and outstanding, according to the latest Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If you multiply these two numbers, you get a market capitalization of $1,001,854,239,790. That’s over a trillion dollars.

This makes Apple the first American company to reach the trillion dollar level.

Apple is actually the second stock to reach a trillion dollar valuation. The first was PetroChina (PTR), that hit that level in 2007.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.

Companies Reporting Earnings This Week

by Fred Fuld III

Many traders like to look at upcoming earning announcements to plan their trades. A substantial amount of money can be made trading on earnings, but a significant amount of money can be lost. (Remember Facebook (FB) last week?)

Some of the most heavily traded stocks that are reporting include Apple (AAPL), Tesla (TSLA), Wynn (WYNN), MGM (MGM), and CBS (CBS). Here is a list of the popular stocks that are reporting earnings:

Monday Pre-Market

  • CAT
  • EXP
  • FDC
  • L
  • STX

Monday After-Market

  • ATHN
  • DENN
  • NTRI
  • RIG

Tuesday Pre-Market

  • BP
  • JCI
  • LL
  • PG
  • PFE
  • RL

Tuesday After-Market

  • AAPL
  • APC
  • BIDU
  • CAKE
  • H
  • P
  • QYLS

Wednesday Pre-Market

  • ADP
  • GRMN
  • HUM
  • SODA

Wednesday After-Market

  • CRUS
  • CZR
  • FEYE
  • HLF
  • MET
  • MRO
  • PRU
  • RAIL
  • SQ
  • TRIP
  • TSLA
  • WYNN
  • X

Thursday Pre-Market

  • AET
  • AVP
  • CLX
  • DUK
  • ICE
  • MGM
  • W
  • YUM

Thursday After-Market

  • CBS
  • ED
  • TTWO
  • WU

Friday Pre-Market

  • CBOE
  • WELL

Can You Guess Warren Buffett’s Largest Stock Holding?

by Fred Fuld III

Warren Buffett, the head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB), is considered to be one of the top investors,  and is probably the most well known investor in the world. In addition, Buffett is a very interesting character.

Many investors like to copy Buffett’s investments, in order to match his superior returns.

So the first thing a copycat investor would do is to check and see what stock he owns more of than any other investment.  Can you guess what that stock is?

It is Apple Inc. (AAPL), the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch company. According the Berkshire Hathaway’s latest report to the SEC, Apple makes up 21.27% of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, a fairly large commitment. Buffett has 239 million shares worth over $40 billion.

The second largest shareholding is Wells Fargo (WFC), making up 12.66% of the Berkshire portfolio. In third place is Bank of America (BAC) at 10.78%.

Rounding out the top five shareholdings is Kraft Heinz (KHC) representing 10.74% of the portfolio and Coca-Cola (KO) at 9.19%.

To see all the stocks owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, so to the  Buffett Stock List.

Hopefully you can ride on Buffett’s coattails to investment success.

 

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, BRKB, and BAC.