Berkshire Hathaway's Equity Portfolio: Beyond the 13F-HR

Once a year, we get a good view of the complete Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa) equity portfolio in Warren Buffett's shareholder letter.

The Berkshire Hathaway 13F-HR that is released quarterly contains all the domestic equities but does not include the large stakes that Berkshire Hathaway has in stocks not listed in the U.S. like BYD, Munich Re, POSCO, Tesco and Sanofi-Aventis (only the ADR shares of Sanofi shows up in the 13F-HR but that's only a tiny fraction of Berkshire's overall stake in the company).

Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . Market Value (millions)
American Express Company (AXP). . . . .. . .$6,507
BYD Company, Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,182
The Coca-Cola Company (KO). . . . . . . . . . . $13,154
ConocoPhillips (COP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 1,982
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . .$2,785
Kraft Foods Inc (KFT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,063
Munich Re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,924
POSCO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . $1,706
The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) . . . .  .$4,657
Sanofi-Aventis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,656
Tesco plc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . $1,608
U.S. Bancorp (USB) . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .$2,105
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT) . .. . . . . . . . . . . $2,105
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC). . . . . . . . . . $11,123
Others . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . .$4,956
Total Common Stocks . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . .$61,513

ADRs for some of the above non-U.S. stocks include POSCO (PKX) and Sanofi-Aventis (SNY). In addition, BYD (BYDDY) and Tesco (TSCDY) can be found listed among the pink sheets.

Among the portfolio's large positions, here are some of the key changes compared to a year ago:

Sold shares in Kraft (reduced position by ~1/4), Conoco (reduced ~1/5), and P&G (reduced ~1/8).

Added a large new position in Munich Re (nearly a top 5 holding now).

In addition, he added substantially to the position in Johnson & Johnson while making slight additions to the already large existing positions in Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp, Sanofi-Aventis, and Tesco.

All other large positions remained the same size.

At the end of 2010, the following stocks were all selling at or below prices paid by Buffett: ConocoPhillips, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Munich Re, Sanofi-Aventis, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo.*

ConocoPhillips has rallied quite a bit since year-end.

Adam

Long BRKb, AXP, KO, COP, JNJ, KFT, PKX, PG, USB, WMT, WFC

* At first glance, this is not easy to see for Wells Fargo since the overall cost basis of WFC includes shares that were bought in the early 1990s at low to mid single digit prices (split adjusted so apples to apples). The shares in WFC bought over the past 4 years or so are, on average, near current market prices.
---
This site does not provide investing recommendations as that comes down to individual circumstances. Instead, it is for generalized informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. Visitors should always do their own research and consult, as needed, with a financial adviser that's familiar with the individual circumstances before making any investment decisions. Bottom line: The opinions found here should never be considered specific individualized investment advice and never a recommendation to buy or sell anything.