A classic example of a superb business with staying power, The Coca-Cola Company (KO:NYSE) is blessed with iconic brands spearheaded by Coca-Cola or ?Coke?, the world?s most recognised soft drink synonymous with its red cans.Coca-Cola?s brands resonate with consumers around the world, making the New York-listed group?s products the beverage of choice for billions when at home or on the move.Powerf

This year, Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) shares have fallen nearly 9%. If that doesn?t sound like a big deal, consider that for the world?s second most valuable company it means the loss of something like $230 billion. That?s the equivalent of an entire PepsiCo (PEP:NASDAQ), or Shell (SHEL) ? the UK?s current largest company ? plus a British American Tobacco (BATS) thrown in.On a one-year view, the stock ha

Warren Buffett?s antipathy toward gold as an investment is well known, thanks in part to a speech the Sage of Omaha gave at Harvard in 1998. Buffett acidly asserted that: ?Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their he

The annual Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B:NYSE) shareholder letter is eagerly awaited by investors looking for insights and clues into Warren Buffett?s next big move.This year?s missive throws a bucket of cold water on the idea of finding businesses to buy which might be ?transformational? for Berkshire, whose market capitalisation is closing in on $1 trillion.?There remain only a handful of companies

Each quarter the analyst community eagerly awaits the publication of the 13F forms by the leading US investment managers.The releases, which have to be published within 45 days of the end of the quarter, are parsed for clues into what these ?star? managers are thinking about the world and about the markets.Unsurprisingly, the quarterly filings by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE), led by legendary i

Few stocks command as much attention as Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE), but then few investors are as well known as Warren Buffett and his late business partner Charlie Munger.The pair built a business with a market cap today of $880 billion and an investment portfolio which is as good a representation of the US economy as you are likely to find, from railroads to restaurants and banking to consu

An investor blessed with Nostradamus-like predictive powers who put money to work with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE) in 1964 and held the shares until 2022 would have enjoyed a gargantuan overall gain of 3,787,464% in terms of per share market value, leaving the stellar 24,708% return from the S&P 500 index with dividends included for dust.Under the direction of legendary investor Warren Buffett

Electric car maker set to overtake TeslaBoth hold a 17% global market share Buffett and Munger early convertsNext year is likely to mark a turning point in the global EV (electric vehicle) market, with relatively unknown Chinese manufacturer BYD (1211:HSE) overtaking the current leader Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ) in terms of units sold.Even though BYD barely has a presence in the US market, due to punitiv

Latest dividend jumps 15.8% to $0.66 per shareOn track for 2023 payout above consensus hopesUnveils new $11 billion share buyback schemeCredit cards colossus Mastercard (MA:NYSE) hiked its third quarter shareholders dividend by 15.8% and plans a new $11 billion share buyback scheme.The raise, from $0.57 per share to $0.66, is a statement of intent that the New York-based business plans to use its

Swashbuckling gains were clocked up in November as investors bet that falling inflation, a firm jobs market, and mostly better than expected corporate earnings bode well for the US economy into 2024.The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.8% over the past week, and while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose more modestly, it?s still been a hell of a month for US stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial

Technology giant Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) saw its growth credentials fall under the microscope after reporting fourth quarter financial results (2 November) as its sales declined for a fourth straight quarter, the longest slide in more than two decades.The Cupertino colossus may have topped forecasts in the three months to 30 September but that did little to offset growing worries that iPhone 15 simply

Third-quarter operating income up 41%Record cash pile despite $1.1 billion buybackStock portfolio drops $24 billionOmaha-based conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE) reported a 41% increase in third-quarter operating earnings to $10.7 billion on Saturday 5 November.The company continued to repurchase shares, spending a further $1.1 billion through the quarter, which means the Sage of Omaha h

Investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE) attracts investor interest in the companies it is buying and selling that is revealed through quarterly 13F filings.These are a regulatory requirement for all firms with more than $100 million in assets under management. At last count on 14 August the publicly traded portfolio was worth $348 billion.In addition the firm holds a record $147 bi

Chinese EV (electric vehicle) maker BYD (002594:SHE) overtook Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ) to become the world's largest producer in 2022 after global production surpassed 10 million for the first time according to industry publication EV Volumes.While Tesla remains the market leader in terms of annual revenues, analysts' projections see BYD catching up fast.Recent third quarter results suggest Tesla is dr

According to Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's highly respected colleague and co-manager of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE), 'All intelligent investing is value investing, acquiring more than you are paying for.'Or, as Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management puts it, 'It's not what you buy, it's what you pay, and success in investing doesn't come from buying good things but from buying things we

If you started your investing journey at any point in the dozen or so years prior to the global pandemic, today's challenges will look very strange to you. The decade or more market environment of low inflation and ultra-low borrowing costs was a fertile framework for growth investing, yet the reopening of the world post-Covid has cooked up a toxic stew of wealth-sapping inflation and rising inter

US markets remain popular with UK investorsUK continues to see more sellers than buyersAppetite for gold ebbs away as rates promise higher for longerInvestors in the UK continued to commit cash to inexpensive US ETFs during September, according to latest data from investment platform AJ Bell. Most popular was the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (VUSA), with purchases of the sterling and dollar denomina

While investors have been fretting over the direction of interest rates, the rise in crude oil prices, the state of the US consumer and any number of other things in recent weeks, the B class shares in investment giant Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE) have sailed serenely to a new all-time high of $363 almost completely undetected.Since 1965, when Warren Buffett - the so-called Sage of Omaha - took

Whether you're saving for retirement, looking to pay off your mortgage or any other future objective, investing in equities has been one of the most successful ways of generating long-term value creation. According to data from Bloomberg from April 2023, global equities, represented by the FTSE All-World Total Return Index, have grown by 57.3% over the past five years, smashing the returns from ca

Operating profit hit $10 billion in second quarter$177.6 billion stake in Apple lifts profitsBuffett owns 15% of Berkshire's sharesUS investment firm Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE), founded by legendary investor Warren Buffett, was a net seller of $8 billion worth of stocks in the second quarter of this year.Yet in a surprise move the firm also bought $870 million of shares in three US house buil