Quarterly News

Lessons From The Masters In OmahaI began attending the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha in the mid-2000s and continued to travel there despite it starting to be broadcast online a few years ago. Unfortunately, the Covid outbreak interrupted my yearly pilgrimage to Omaha for the last two years when the meeting was entirely virtual. As I prepare to head to the “Woodstock for Capitalists” on April 30th, it seemed an optimal time to revisit some timeless lessons from Warren Buffett, CEO and Chairman, and Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman. While Buffett and Munger likely need no introduction, their partnership in managing Berkshire has produced arguably the most remarkable extended performance for investors ever recorded. Since they began operating Berkshire in

As noted in the previous quarterly publication, the second quarter marked the peak year-over-year growth rate on several measures, including economic growth. The third quarter found growth stocks remaining on top of the heap with concerns about the Delta variant denting the returns for more economically sensitive sectors (Chart 1). However, value and dividend stocks retained the crown for performance year-to-date on the strength of the performance in the first quarter. Chart 1 – 3Q Factor Performance The markets now resemble the classic Clint Eastwood film, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. In the movie, the three men battle for a treasure in gold. The future direction of the markets will likely be determined by the struggle between the

What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana, Philosopher, 1863 ‐ 1952 At a little more than one year past the COVID and lockdown‐induced stock market low, it seems like an appropriate time to look at how this recession differs from a more typical business cycle and the implications of those differences. The most significant difference was that a governmentmandated lockdown of businesses was the cause of this collapse in economic activity. Recessions are typically caused by economic overheating or an extraneous shock, like soaring oil prices, rather than government decree. The sudden stop in the economy caused employment to plunge. Both the pace and amount of job