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Apple’s drop costs Warren Buffett about $2.8 billion, adding to struggles for Berkshire portfolio – CNBC


Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks on a mobile phone during an interview in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, June 25, 2008. 

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Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks on a mobile phone during an interview in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, June 25, 2008. 

Warren Buffett will lose some serious money on Thursday.

With Apple’s more than 7 percent drop in after-hours trading Wednesday, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is looking to lose approximately $2.8 billion on its position in the tech company.

Berkshire owns 252.5 million shares of Apple, which at the market close on Wednesday were trading at $157.92 per share, according to FactSet. Right when the market closed, Buffett‘s position was worth $39.87 billion.

Shares tanked soon after the company announced it would lower its Q1 guidance in a letter to investors from CEO Tim Cook Wednesday, blaming a range of variety of factors including a weakening economy in China and lower-than-expected iPhone revenue.

After the Apple news, the stock fell by about 7 percent or around $10 per share. As of 5:20 p.m. ET shares of the tech giant were trading near $147.

The drop brings Berkshire’s holdings to about $37.1 billion, and a possible $2.77 billion loss overnight.

In the first quarter of this 2018, Buffett’s Berkshire bought an additional 75 million shares of Apple. That added to an existing 165.3 million shares Berkshire already owned at the end of 2017. He told CNBC at the time that he clearly likes Apple, and “we buy them to hold.”

Berkshire did not yet a return a call for comment.

“We bought about 5 percent of the company. I’d love to own 100 percent of it. … We like very much the economics of their activities. We like very much the management and the way they think,” Buffett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Buffett first announced Berkshire was buying Apple in February 2017 despite his usual aversion to tech stocks. Shares of Apple are down more than 15 percent year over year. But Berkshire’s other major bets aren’t holding up much better.

In the financial sector Bank of America, which makes up 11 percent of Berkshire’s portfolio, is down 17 percent year over year while Wells Fargo is down 23 percent. Those are the holding company’s two largest positions behind Apple. J.P. Morgan meanwhile, which makes up 1.9 percent of the portfolio, is down roughly 8 percent in the same time period.

Coca Cola, Berkshire’s fourth largest position at 10 percent of the portfolio is in positive territory, up 3 percent over the last 12 months while American Express is down 3 percent.



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