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5-Star Price
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Economic Moat
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Capital Allocation
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With wide-moat-rated Berkshire Hathaway already giving us a decent glimpse of its buying activity during the first quarter, there were only a few things in its recent 13-F filing that we would consider new information. When Berkshire reported earnings earlier this month, it noted it had purchased $51.1 billion and sold $9.7 billion of equity securities during the March quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company with a wide array of subsidiaries engaged in diverse activities. The firm's core business segment is insurance, run primarily through Geico, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group. Berkshire has used the excess cash thrown off from these and its other operations over the years to acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe (railroad), Berkshire Hathaway Energy (utilities and energy distributors), and the firms that make up its manufacturing, service, and retailing operations (which include five of Berkshire's largest noninsurance pretax earnings generators: Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, Clayton Homes, Marmon, and IMC/ISCAR). The conglomerate is unique in that it is run on a completely decentralized basis.
