Month: October 2021

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Lessons From Warren Buffett

Lessons From Warren Buffett: Warren Buffett Disagrees With Beta as a Measurement of Risk

Beta, the measurement of a stock’s volatility, is not a measurement of riskiness, according to Warren Buffett. Although many investors are taught that high beta stocks have more potential for gain but also a higher risk of loss due to their volatility, Buffett disagrees.

“It became very fashionable in the academic world, and then that spilled over into the financial markets, to define risk in terms of volatility, of which beta became a measure, but that is no measure of risk to us,” Warren Buffett said at the 1994 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “Interesting thing is that using conventional measures of risk, something whose return varies from year to year between plus-20 percent and plus-80 percent is riskier, as defined, than something whose return is 5 percent a year every year. We just think the financial world has gone haywire in terms of measures of risk.”

Hear Buffett’s full explanation

See the complete Lessons From Warren Buffett series

© 2021 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Acquisitions Kraft Heinz

Kraft Heinz Completes Purchase of Assan Foods, Expanding Presence in Key Growth Markets

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

The Kraft Heinz Company has announced it has completed the purchase of Assan Foods from privately held Turkish conglomerate Kibar Holding. The proposed deal was first announced on June 11, 2021.

Assan Foods, headquartered in Istanbul, is a rapidly growing sauces-focused business with local manufacturing facilities in Balikesir and Izmir, Turkey. Assan Foods has been a certified Kraft Heinz production partner since 2019 and offers Kraft Heinz the opportunity to further build its retail and foodservice businesses across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

“Assan Foods makes high-quality sauces and tomato products that we believe fit perfectly into our International Zone’s growth strategy focused on Taste Elevation, and expands our presence in a part of the world that holds tremendous long-term opportunity for our company and our brands,” said Rafa Oliveira, International Zone President at Kraft Heinz. “We’re excited to officially welcome Assan Foods employees to the Kraft Heinz table.”

Assan Foods was established in Balikesir in 1998 as a Kibar Holding investment in the food sector and evolved into one of the top producers in the region. Assan Foods manufactures and sells a wide range of products, including tomato paste, ketchup, mayonnaise, and pasta and meat sauces that appeal to a variety of international cuisines. Its products are sold under brands such as Colorado, Kingtom, and Oba, as well as private label.

© 2021 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Forest River

Forest River to Triple Its Canadian Sales of Electric Buses

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Forest River is experiencing strong demand in Canada for its new ZEV shuttle buses thanks to its recent strategic partnership with Lightning eMotors.

The company is projecting that it will triple its sales in the Canadian market.

Forest River is already selling 10,000 units per year in the Class 4 to 6 shuttle-bus space under its Starcraft, Glaval, and Champion brands. The co-produced Forest River/Lightning eMotors ZEV bus partnership aims to build up to 7,500 zero-emission shuttle buses over the next 4.5 years.

Lightning eMotors is manufacturing the zero-emission-vehicle (“ZEV”) powertrain systems at their 231,000 square foot facility in Loveland, Colorado and shipping the powertrains to Forest River’s factory in Goshen, Indiana, for final assembly of the Class 4 and 5 all-electric passenger buses. Forest River is dedicating 100,000 square feet to install Lightning eMotors’ powertrains.

The vehicles that Forest River and Lightning eMotors will co-produce are Class 4 and 5 shuttle buses with gross vehicle weight ratings ranging from 14,500 to 19,500 pounds. The buses will feature battery configurations from 80kWh to more than 160kWh using industry-leading battery thermal management systems. These vehicles support ranges on a single charge between 80 and 160 miles and can recharge over a lunch break using Lightning eMotors’ DC fast charge infrastructure with integrated vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities.

Available configurations will have between 12 and 33 passenger seats with ADA options available, and bus lengths of 20 to 34 feet. Other features include a modern digital-dash display, hill-hold functionality for safety, advanced telematics, analytics, and a mobile app for drivers and fleet managers.

Forest River’s 100-plus bus dealership locations throughout the U.S. and Canada will have the opportunity to sell and service these vehicles.

All vehicles will be compliant with the Federal Transit Administration’s “Buy America” and the Federal Aviation Administration’s “Buy American” guidelines. Under the guidelines, the federal share of eligible capital costs is 80 percent of the net capital project cost.

© 2021 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway and BYD, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Lessons From Warren Buffett

Lessons From Warren Buffett: Here Are Buffett’s Criteria for Buying a Stock

What are Warren Buffett’s criteria for buying a stock? They are very straightforward. They are all about understanding a company, projecting its future earnings, and evaluating the quality of a company’s management. As Buffett notes, “It is simple, but not easy.”

“The criteria for selecting a stock is really the criteria for looking at a business. We are looking for a business we can understand,” Warren Buffett said at the 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “That means they sell a product that we think we understand, and we understand the nature of the competition, what could go wrong with it over time. And then when we find that business we try to figure out whether the economics of it means the earning power over the next five, or ten, or fifteen years is likely to be good and getting better or poor and getting worse. But we try to evaluate that future stream. And then we try to decide whether we’re getting in with some people that we feel comfortable being in with. And then we try to decide what’s an appropriate price for what we’ve seen up to that point.”

Buffett’s full explanation of his criteria for buying a stock

See the complete Lessons From Warren Buffett series

© 2021 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.