Email of the day (1)
Comment of the Day

May 11 2010

Commentary by Eoin Treacy

Email of the day (1)

on Berkshire Hathaway's AGM
"A friend of mine has been attending Berkshire's AGM for the last no. of years. He writes a synopsis every year and it is always interesting reading."

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for these notes which I'm sure will be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

In response to a shareholder who asked Buffett what question he would ask if the tables were reversed Buffett said a good question was whether he could continue to invest the capital that was being generated and retained in the company. He said that in time, perhaps in 10 or 15 years, the numbers could get too big and they would need to return money to shareholders. In response to the same question Munger said that the investment in (Korean car and battery manufacturer) BYD was a technology type investment and shareholders must think that strange as he and Buffett had "bragged about avoiding that type of investment." He pointed out that BYD had already achieved the "almost impossible" and couldn't be considered a start-up. He liked to think that the BYD investment showed that two old men were still capable of learning.

BYD soared to over HK$80 by October and had become quite overextended in the process. It has been consolidating for the last 6 months in a relatively steady mean reversion and retested the 200-day MA last week. It needs to find support in the current area if the medium-term bullish outlook is to be sustained. A decline below $65 would signal an inconsistency, while a sustained move below HK$50 would complete a medium-term top.

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