Warren Buffett has been praised by shareholders and countless admiration for the benefit of a series of market-moving events, fresh trade wars, catastrophic wildfires and shocking stock sellers in Berkshire Hathaway. You are trying to deal with someone. The 94-year-old’s “Oracle of Omaha” must-see annual letter will be released Saturday at 8am along with Berkshire’s fourth quarter revenue. Investors are more enthusiastic than ever about his thinking in the wider markets and the impact of President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs and California wildfires on the vast Berkshire businesses. Insurance giant Berkshire doesn’t have a big footprint in the California market, but its massive reinsurance business is still a hit as it absorbs some of the insured’s losses from the Los Angeles wildfires. You may see it. It is the most expensive in US history. “We’ve been working hard to get the better of our customers,” said James Shanahan, Berkshire analyst at Edward Jones. “Berkshire can have some exposure to California wildfires here, which could be big,” analysts and investors are closely watching wildfire-related disclosures in their earnings reports. UBS’s Brian Meredith estimated $1 billion in insurance losses and $150 million in Berkshire Primary’s losses for Berkshire reinsurance. CFRA analyst Katherine Seyfert expects that California’s leading auto insurance company Geico will receive claims from California wildfires, but it will be manageable. Having spoken at length about the trade disputes that broke out during Trump’s first term in 2018 and 2019, Buffett was able to comment again on the president’s latest high-stakes fight. Trump slapped 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on goods imported from China. (Mexico and Canada’s tariffs were suspended for 30 days on February 3.) A 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports is expected to come into effect in March. A few years ago, Berkshire’s CEO and chairman called tariffs “tax on consumers” in an interview. He said at the time that aggressive trade policies could have negative global outcomes, including causing inflation that could hurt consumers. Investors are also looking for all the colours on 10K tariffs from Berkshire portfolio companies. For example, materials and construction businesses may have experienced difficult times to import wood from Canada. Buffett’s dump appears to have not yet been made in the fuss about his inventory sales as Berkshire offloaded more Bank of America stocks in the fourth quarter. The approximately 680 million shares at the end of 2024 were below the significant 700 million threshold, the number of shares acquired by Berkshire in 2011 through a low-price warrant. , and maybe we should go more from then,” Piper Sandler analyst R. Scott Siefers said in a note. According to Shanahan, across BAC 1Y Mountain Bank of America Of America, Berkshire’s stock sales exceeded nine quarters of stock purchases. As a result, the conglomerate’s huge cash pile surpassed a record $300 billion in the third quarter of 2024. “He has not had the opportunity to buy an operating company and has not invested heavily in new public stocks. The balance continues to grow and grow,” Shanahan said. “I think he’s telling us here that the market is expensive, the stock is expensive, even his own stock,” Succession Buffett also said in the past year or so. He settled outstanding litigation and issues on Berkshire’s balance sheet, paving the way for successor Greg Abel to ultimately take over. Berkshire acquired the remaining 8% of Berkshire Hathaway Energy from Walter Scott’s family and now owns 100% of its utility unit. Meanwhile, the Haslams sold the remaining 20% ownership of the Truckstop giant pilot travel centre to Berkshire after settling a billion-dollar lawsuit. “He could set up a company for transition and leadership,” Shanahan said. “He told Greg that he succeeded by building a large cash balance by reducing large investments in his stock portfolio, resolving unpaid lawsuits, building a large cash balance and quickly going to the market and making large investments. I wanted to give him the opportunity to do so. Put his fingerprints all over the business.”
