Cash pile seems like good thing, no?

I’m confused. For 15 years people said that Berkshire’s huge cash pile pulled down the stock price because it earned no interest and was just sitting there. Yet the stock is falling now that the cash pile will earn real money and is also available to buy equities at discounted prices. What am I missing?

3 Likes

Short term treasuries at 4.5%.
Inflation at 8.5%.
Cash is losing value in real terms.

3 Likes

Cash is losing value in real terms.

…but not as much as equities have been losing value, at least for now.

That said, I don’t have all that much invest-able cash left in my brokerage accounts. I think it will work out okay in the long run.

6 Likes

The cash pile is a good thing right now. Not because it will earn more interest, but so Berkshire can invest it (finally) in productive assets that are on sale.

Hopefully they are finding some. Berkshire itself is the obvious candidate. There will rightly be wailing and gnashing of teeth if Berkshire didn’t buy back a big chunk in Q3.

Google, more Apple?

Quite a few good and big enough firms are around 10x fwd earnings. Including Berkshire’s subs.

Unless there’s an elephant in the sights? Haven’t we all pretty much given up on that now? Mars isn’t for sale. Hershey isn’t for sale. Please, please don’t buy Boeing or GE. No more PCPs.

Questions I’m pondering: At what point should I conclude that the $30bn cash limit is a fiction? How low could the market go and Berkshire still have excess cash before I lose faith?