Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (BRK-A)

Where's to go wrong with Warren Buffett and billions of dollars to invest? Let him pick the cream of the crop of undervalued stocks during this "recession" and watch them, as well as Berkshire Hathaway, go up in the years to come.

$40 + billion in cash to deploy and much more hitting the cash register each day. AAA credit rating. A wonderful sellers market for insurers with deep pockets. This could be the single best risk/reward opportunity available today.

You're with great company by investing in BRK. With this pick, you're investing beside most of my investing role models like Whitney Tilson (Tilson Funds), Bruce Berkowitz (Fairholme), Monish Pabrai, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and many other smart investors.

In my personal account, I own some BRK-B, just because it's more affordable. But, with either the A or B shares, I expect them to outperform as long as the stock market remains open. I don't think it will grow at the same rate as the next hot stock like Potash (POT) or First Solar (FSLR), but it will beat the S&P for the foreseeable future.

My estimated target stock price is $165K for the A shares. That offers just less than 30% margin of safety (well within my comfort range with a stock of this caliber). I will continue to accumulate shares as long as I feel the intrinsic value of BRK continues to increase.

I generally don't like going out on a limb and picking such risky stocks, but I thought I'd make an exception here.

I've spent quite a few hours trying to value this beast, and my different models all point to a decent upside and virtually no downside. And it's fun to follow.

Other than the obvious benefits of owning Berkshire (Buffet/Munger, allows you to sleep at night etc) I think that Buffet and Mr. Geico Simpson may be able to improve their equity picking performance over the next 5 yrs vs the past 5. Every smart guy is saying that large and mega caps are looking very good right now...well I know just the guys to exploit this.

If they can deploy a decent amount of that cash, the P in the PE ratio for this thing is going to have to move upwards significantly.

Berkshire has the potential to plummet during the transition of managers. Even if this doesn't happen, whats the upside? a 2-3 point outdual of the S&P, you can't even lock-in that as accuracy points in CAPS. The current score leaders are going short, I'm going w/ them.

Well I say a "year or so" on all of my picks, but this is a keeper. I have read your books and followed your stories in the news Mr. Buffett. This stock is basically like a safe yet high-yielding mutual fund. The umbrella that keeps raining money. I wish I had enough money to buy a share of it.

Warren Buffet is THE MAN. I shouldn't have to say anymore but, to make things sound interesting I will list a few of THE MAN's famous quotes:

"I don't read economic forecasts. I don't read the funny papers."

"The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything--you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you're a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, 'Swing, you bum!'"

"We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet."

“View Mr. Market as having a disorder and being in a manic depressive state and take advantage of this state of disorder."

Own at least a few shares of this stock and you can be sure it wont under perform over any reasonable length of time.

Warren Buffet, master value picker... He is an excellent leader and has attracted a host of talent. This play is not just just for the lifetime of Warren but quite likely one of those keeper stocks you keep for decades. They are likely to keep acquiring low-cost companies at a discount and improve their profitability. Can't go wrong here!

I'll take my chances with Warren outperforming the S&P500 Index.

Berkshire Hathaway is a collection of cash-producing companies and other holdings. On average, the holdings are above average companies. If you ask me, a collection of above-average companies will tend to beat the S&P 500 over time. Would I own any of these stocks on my own? Probably not, since I invest primarily in micro caps. However, I do believe that Buffett chooses large stocks that are better than the S&P 500 in general.

While Berkshire Hathaway is too big to outperform by a ridiculous margin like it did in the past, I fully expect it to be able to beat the market by a few points a year for the foreseeable future. Buffett is not immortal, but he buys companies when he thinks he's paying a good price. Much of your returns come from the price that you can lock in when you buy.

I expect Berkshire Hathaway to outperform the S&P 500 by a small margin on average until someone else takes over and starts consistently buying garbage with its extra cash.

Buffett's cash hoard has me a little bit concerned, but this is a man who has built an empire out of patience. As Wally Weitz said in the most recent issue of Forbes, "it never pays to bet against Buffett." It's easy to show what a bargain is Berkshire is right now based on the cash on the books and the operations of the businesses currently in the portfolio.

The question is: Can Warren deploy the cash?

I think he can, and I think the market will give him a pretty good opportunity to do so over the next 12-24 months.

Warren Buffett is an investing genius. Look for this stock to succeed even in a market selloff. This stock has been undervalued since 1999 when investors were critical of Warren missing out on the tech boom. The only real risk in this stock is if Warren Buffett dies.

If there are few major hurricanes this season, their profits go up. If there are many major hurricanes this season, it will increase their pricing power by weeding out more of their competitors.

Without having read any of the other pitches, I can guess what many of them say.

Stock is down over worries about the succession. BRK has been, for so long, a one (or two) man show with Buffett (and Munger) at the helm, that no one really believes that the company can continue or exist without these two men.

However, considering Buffett's expertise at picking companies with good management, can there really be much doubt that he won't be able to choose a competent successor(s)? According to some stuff on the BRK discussion board, many people believe that he has already picked his successor(s)and is working with them. I would expect that of Buffett, considering his views of corporate responsibility.

When he dies, the stock will probably drop a fair amount, which could turn out to be a very good time to buy. Current thought is that the stock is currently (Aug 2006) undervalued, especially considering the good earnings report which was released recently.

Worry about another Katrina-like disaster is also probably weighing on the stock. However, until there is evidence that Katrina-like storms are becoming the norm rather than the exception it was, this is an irrational fear to my mind.

Unlike much of Wall Street, BRK is rooted in common sense: buy cash machines from Mr. Market when he is selling them cheap. Rinse, wash, collect returns.

Its not sexy, its not the next new thing, but it is a stable, long term way to beat the market - and thats what we're all up to - right?

My first pick, and happily I do own one share of ole faithful in real life as well.

The current price is cheap by any of the classic BRK yardsticks.

The stock is priced as though Warren has already passed on. Yes, someday Warren will die and that will negatively impact how capital is re-allocated, but it won't change the number of Dilly Bars or super cats sold.

Every aspect of the company is firing on all cylinders. After 4-6 quarters in a row of massive positive earnings surprises, Wall Street will come around.
The era of Berkshire's underperformance is over. And even if it's not, the company is at least 25% below intrinsic value by any sane estimate.

Plus Cramer rec'd it recently. BOO-YAH!!!! Ok kidding

Wish I had make this pick earlier in the year when I put real money into the B shares, but the case is simple for Berkshire. They have a strong group of businesses and are led by the greatest investor of all-time, Mr. Warren Buffett. Berkshire's numbers will continue to impress as long as we don't experience any hurricanes. Look for strong and steady growth over the next five years.

This is a no-brainer. Even if Buffett should die tonight, this will remain a very well-managed company and will continue generating immense amounts of cash.