Shares of Berkshire Hathaway-backed Chinese battery and vehicle manufacturer BYD Co., Ltd. jumped 6.49% on Thursday to a new all-time high.
BYD’s stock (BYDDF), which had been as low as $4.35 on March 23, closed at $31.00 on Thursday.
The stock is up over 625% over 12 months.
A Profitable EV Company
The company has reported strong sales of its vehicles, including the Han luxury car, which debuted in July. The Han is outselling its rivals from both Nio and Xpeng Motors.
BYD’s Han EV’s long-range pure electric version has a single-charge range of 605 kilometers (376 miles) based on the NEDC test cycle.
In other news, BYD announced in December that it received a large order to deliver another 406 of its pure electric buses for the Colombian capital of Bogota.
The order was just weeks after it completed the delivery of 470 pure electric buses to the city.
BYD and Berkshire Hathaway
In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million has grown in value over thirty-fold.
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.
BNSF Railway and Wabtec’s development of potential of battery-electric locomotives has reached another significant milestone this week as they begin testing the technology in revenue service between Barstow and Stockton, California.
As BNSF seeks ways to further reduce its environmental impact, the advancement of battery technology offers some possible solutions.
“We’ve got everything in place and we’re ready to see how this next-generation locomotive performs in revenue service,” said John Lovenburg, BNSF vice president, Environmental. “BNSF is focused on continuing to reduce our environmental impact, and we’re committed to doing our part to test and assess the commercial viability of emerging technologies that reduce emissions.”
The pilot test will run from January until the end of March. If the initial pilot proves successful, BNSF will look to expand testing to other locations and operating conditions on its system.
The battery-powered locomotive will be situated in a consist between two Tier 4 locomotives, creating a battery-electric hybrid consist. When running on the mainline, both the battery-electric and diesel locomotives will power the train. The battery-electric locomotive is expected to reduce the environmental impact from emissions along the route in an efficient manner, while improving the fuel economy for the entire consist by at least 10 percent.
This initiative builds on BNSF’s existing investments in sustainable technologies including idle control, electric wide-span cranes, battery-electric hostlers, automated gates at its intermodal facilities, and Tier 4 locomotives. BNSF partnered with Wabtec on the development of the battery-electric locomotive, which features an overall energy-management system, including onboard energy storage that, when coupled with advanced system-optimization controls, will improve consist and train performance.
“The FLXdrive is the world’s first 100-percent, heavy-haul battery-electric locomotive that optimizes the total energy utilization of the entire locomotive consist,” said Alan Hamilton, Wabtec vice president, Engineering. “This technology works in a manner very similar to how electric vehicles use regenerative braking. It’s a significant step forward for the rail industry and will change the course for even cleaner, more energy-efficient transport.”
The battery-electric locomotive pilot program is part of a $22.6 million grant awarded to BNSF and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District from the Zero- and Near Zero-Emission Freight Facilities (ZANZEFF) project by the California Air Resource Board to pilot several emissions-reducing technologies in and around railyards. The ZANZEFF project is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities.
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.
Electric Gamebox, a British entertainment concept centered on interactive gaming, has opened a 4,000-square-foot venue at Berkshire Hathaway’s Grandscape, the 433-acre mixed-use destination in the northern Dallas suburb of The Colony.
The venue is Electric Gamebox’s first in the United States.
Founded by Will Dean, the man behind Tough Mudder, and David Spindler, who conceived and launched the Tough Mudder Bootcamp franchise, Electric Gamebox is founded on the belief that technology should bring people together versus driving them apart.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Nebraska Furniture Mart is leading the development of the retail components of Grandscape. The furniture, appliances and home furnishings retailer opened in 2015, and anchors the development with 560,000 square feet of showroom space divided between two floors and covering 100 acres in total.
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 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.
There is no one that wants to have a lousy business, but as Warren Buffett points out, you certainly learn a lot of lessons from it. Among the things you learn are “how awful it is, and how little you can do about it, and how IQ does not solve the problem. . . ”
As Buffett noted: “I really think if you want to be a good evaluator of businesses, an investor, you really ought to figure out a way, without too much personal damage, to run a lousy business for a while,” Buffett explained at the 2017 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “I think you learn a whole lot more about business by actually struggling with a terrible business for a couple of years than you learn by getting into a very good one where the business itself is so good that you can’t mess it up.”
Buffett’s full explanation about learning from running a lousy business
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.
Berkshire Hathaway-backed BYD (Build Your Dreams) has won a large order to deliver another 406 pure electric buses to the Colombian capital of Bogota. The order is just weeks after the delivery of the 470 pure electric buses to the city.
BYD will co-work with Superpolo, a Colombian bus manufacturer, on the body part of the buses for such order.
The buses were tendered by the Bogota City Public Transport Authority (TRANSMILENIO S.A.). A joint venture between Colombian business group Fanalca and international public transport operator Transdev used BYD’s integrated E-bus solutions to bid and successfully won the tender.
The buses are expected to be deployed along 15 routes in Bogota’s Fontibon district in 2021 and thereafter 150,000 residents along the routes will be able to enjoy pure electric and zero-emission transportation services.
“BYD is honored to receive another large order. There are currently 483 electric buses in TRANSMILENIO S.A, and when all 406 buses are in operation next year, Bogota will have 889 pure electric buses, of which 876 will be from BYD – accounting for more than 98.5%,” said Lara Zhang, Regional Director of BYD Latin America.
BYD first entered the Colombian market in 2012 and made several milestone achievements: building the first pure electric taxi fleet in South America in 2013, entering the Bogota BRT system in 2017. It also delivered 64 electric buses to Medellin in 2018.
Throughout Latin America, BYD’s new energy vehicle footprint has spread to major markets including Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Barbados, Panama, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Argentina.
Globally, BYD’s green transport offerings have spread to over 300 cities, operating in more than 50 countries and regions.
BYD and Berkshire Hathaway
In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million has grown in value over twenty-fold.
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.
In the frenzied world of financial news, where the Dow can soar or plummet in the blink of an eye, it is the market’s capricious dance that captures the collective gaze. But should we, if we seek to walk in the footsteps of the legendary Warren Buffett, succumb to this tantalizing spectacle? The answer, resounds with a resolute “no.” For Warren Buffett, the stock market’s caprices hold little sway. To invest like Buffett is to look beyond the tumultuous fluctuations and fix one’s gaze upon the essence of individual businesses, where true value lies.
“Charlie and I don’t think about the market. And Ben (Graham) didn’t very much. I think he made a mistake to occasionally try and place a value on it,” Buffett explained at the 1999 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “We look at individual businesses, and we don’t think of stocks as little items that wiggle around on the paper and have charts attached to them. We think of them as parts of businesses.”
Buffett’s full explanation on focusing on individual companies rather than the market
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.
A Berkshire Hathaway company that was erroneously listed on a proposed U.S. Commerce Department list of Military End-Users in connection with China has been removed from the draft list.
A draft rule released by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security would add a new ‘Military End-User’ List to its regulations on military-use and end-user export controls.
An initial list of entities identified by BIS as “Military End-Users” in the new rule erroneously included Berkshire Hathaway’s TTI Electronics Asia PTE Hong Kong Ltd a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway’s US-based TTI, Inc.
In a statement, TTI said: “The action taken by BIS confirms our position that TTI HK is not a ‘Military End User’ nor does it maintain any ties to the Chinese military. Our customers, suppliers, and all business partners can rest assured that TTI and our affiliates globally are fully compliant with all laws and regulations in the locations where we do business, including all U.S. export control requirements.”
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.
Berkshire-Hathaway-Backed BYD, the world’s leading eBus manufacturer, has commenced delivery of Europe’s largest ever single order for electric buses to Keolis Nederland BV, the Dutch subsidiary of global public transport provider, Keolis.
An initial 246 BYD low-floor eBuses – part of a total order for 259 vehicles – are now with Keolis Nederland and have entered service on 13th December on routes in Zwolle, Apeldoorn, Ede, Dedemsvaart, Vaassen, Harderwijk, and Deventer in the country’s IJssel-Vecht region.
The remaining vehicles are scheduled for delivery and start of operation in Spring, 2021.
The new pure-electric, zero-emissions eBus fleet from BYD will deliver a huge contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Keolis has calculated an annual CO2 reduction of over 15,755 tonnes.
Despite restrictions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, the BYD eBus fleet has been delivered on time and according to pre-pandemic production schedules. An extremely efficient production process of the eBuses was achieved by an integrated approach throughout the BYD supply chain and its various manufacturing sites, including the BYD Hungary eBus production facility.
The Keolis fleet comprises BYD’s 12-metre and 13-metre eBus models. The 13-metre model benefits from BYD’s new upgraded battery technology to provide extended range and ‘city-to-city’ capability. The majority of the Keolis order – 206 vehicles – is made up of BYD’s best-selling 12-metre model. All 12- and 13-metre models feature DC Combo 2 and pantograph charging capability.
All vehicles are equipped with ambient lighting, USB charger ports and soundproof floor cover. In addition, the 13-metre models boast seats with the MMC (Multimedia Control) to offer unparalleled passenger convenience, including a reading light, a phone holder and a folding tray.
Safety and driver comfort are also boosted with bird-eye-view cameras providing the driver with a 360o view of the bus; plus an electric driver’s seat with memory card stores seat positions for multiple drivers and allows quick and easy automatic adjustment.
Marc Renouprez, interim CEO at Keolis Nederland, is delighted to be introducing the largest electric bus fleet in Europe, “With BYD in support,” he said, “Keolis is helping the transport authorities in the provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel in their green transition by deploying this e-fleet, making the IJssel-Vecht region a healthier place to live and work in. It is therefore a momentous milestone for Keolis, but also for our passengers, our PTA partners and the region.”
“We selected BYD thanks to excellent previous experience of the eBus product in our current regions the province of Utrecht and Almere city. The vehicles meet with the full approval of our passengers and our staff – and that’s very important. We have full trust in BYD’s expertise as a manufacturer in developing and maintaining BEV technology, and we were also confident that BYD would ensure the fleet delivery was executed on time.”
“This is a proud day for both BYD and Keolis,” said BYD Europe Managing Director, Isbrand Ho, “we have devised a total transport solution with New Energy technology at its heart. This fleet represents a step-change for public transport in the Netherlands; the start of what is a massive contribution to reducing carbon emissions in the country. The future of public transport has taken a significant step forward today,” he said.
A Profitable EV Company
BYD recently reported a net profit of 1.66 billion yuan (roughly 242 million U.S. dollars) for the first half of 2020. The net profit rose 14.29 percent over the same period in 2019.
Through June 30, BYD had revenue of 60.5 billion yuan, down 2.7 percent year on year, according to BYD’s financial report filed with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Despite the global pandemic, BYD projects 2.8 billion yuan to 3 billion yuan of net profit in the first three quarters of this year, which would be an increase of 77.86 percent to 90.56 percent from the same period of 2019.
BYD and Berkshire Hathaway
In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million has grown in value twenty-fold.
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.
A company’s stock price goes up and up, seemingly disassociated from any meaningful metrics of valuation. So, should you short it?
It may be tempting, but Warren Buffett advises against it.
“Short selling, it’s an interesting item to study because it’s, I mean, it’s ruined a lot of people. It’s the sort of thing that you can go broke doing,” Buffett explained at the 2001 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “Being short where your loss is unlimited is quite different than being long something that you’ve already paid for. And it’s tempting. You see way more stocks that are dramatically overvalued in your career than you will see stocks that are dramatically undervalued.”
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.
Something that Warren Buffett is always fond of are bolt-on acquisitions that bolster Berkshire Hathaway’s existing companies. To that end, Benjamin Moore & Co. has acquired its United Kingdom distribution partner, Shaw Paints Ltd.
Prior to this transaction, Shaw Paints Ltd was the exclusive UK distributor of Benjamin Moore premium quality products and expansive color offerings to consumers, designers and professionals alike. Effective immediately, industry veterans and Shaw Paints co-founders, Craig and Helen Shaw, will join the Benjamin Moore team and remain based in the UK.
With this acquisition, Shaw Paints Ltd will become Benjamin Moore UK, in an effort to accelerate the brand’s growth in the United Kingdom.
The newly formed Benjamin Moore UK will continue to operate showrooms in Slough, Chelsea and Wilmslow, as well as fulfillment to a network of authorized stockists throughout the market.
“We’re thrilled to formally incorporate Shaw Paints Ltd into our international sales operations as they’ve been a trusted partner these past five years,” said Dan Calkins, Benjamin Moore Chairman & CEO. “With their sterling track record, this will enable Benjamin Moore to increase scale throughout the region and offer our best-in-class products to more UK customers.”
“The Benjamin Moore brand has been exceptionally well received in the UK market since the launch in 2015 and we have experienced strong growth as a result of our strategic partnership with Benjamin Moore,” said Craig Shaw, Shaw Paints Ltd Co-Founder. “We’re proud of the business we operate in the United Kingdom and through this acquisition, we expect to further accelerate growth with our industry-leading products and unparalleled color offerings.”
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.