Andrew Bary
Did Warren Buffett snub Bank of America?
The Berkshire Hathaway CEO extolled several of the company's largest equity holdings in his annual shareholder letter released Saturday and omitted a mention of Bank of America, the third-largest Berkshire investment at year-end 2024 in dollar value behind Apple and American Express.
"We own a small percentage of a dozen or so very large and highly profitable businesses with household names such as Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola and Moody's," Buffett wrote.
The Bank of America omission caught the attention of Barclays banking analyst Jason Goldberg.
"One could wonder, if BAC was still in his top five, perhaps he would have mentioned it. With 69 million U.S. consumer and small-business clients as well as 3,700 financial centers and 15,000 ATMs across the U.S., it's hard to argue BAC is not a household name (certainly more so than Moody's)," Goldberg wrote in a client note.
Berkshire Hathaway cut its stake in Bank of America by over 30% to 680 million shares during 2024, trimming the investment to about $31 billion. The Apple stake is valued at $74 billion, while the American Express investment stands at $45 billion. Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio totals about $300 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway's various equity interests at the end of the current quarter will be disclosed in May.
Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com
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February 24, 2025 14:44 ET (19:44 GMT)
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