Monday, June 12, 2006

Berkshire Hathaway A Good Business by Buffett Standard

According to Warren Buffett, Good Business has:

  1. an ability to increase prices rather easily (even when product demand is flat and capacity is not fully utilized) without fear of significant loss of either market share or unit volume.
  2. an ability to accommodate large dollar volume increases in business (often produced by inflation than by real growth) with only minor additional investment of capital.
  3. low cost provider (in enormous market place).

Hmm… this sounds like Berkshire Hathaway!

Bloomberg article published recently mentioned that:

  1. Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's biggest casino company, is paying 50 percent more for property insurance because Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is one of its only options after last year's hurricanes.
  2. Buffett's prices are as much as 20 times higher than the rates prevalent a year ago.
  3. ``Every major account I've placed, those with half a billion dollars or more of coverage, had Berkshire involved,'' Bullock said. ``That was not the case prior to this year. They were not on any of those placements.''

Most insurance companies do not have competitive advantages over one another, except being a low cost provider. Berkshire, on the other hand, has many competitive advantages… low cost provider (GEICO), AAA rating, ability to increase prices, and the best investment managers (Buffett, Munger, Simpson).

Without doubt, Berkshire Hathaway is a Good Business by Buffett Standard. :)

Happy investing,

Dah Hui Lau (David)

dahhuilaudavid@gmail.com

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