Berkshire News Briefs - 5/25/15

Warren Buffett Is Sending Mixed Messages on Green Energy (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett highlights how his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. utilities make massive investments in renewable energy. Meanwhile, in Nevada, the company is fighting a plan that would encourage more residents to use green power.

Berkshire’s NV Energy, the state’s dominant utility, opposes the proposal to increase a cap on the amount of energy that can be generated with solar panels by residents who sell power back to the grid in a practice known as net metering.

Power investor Warren Buffett backs Israeli power saver tech (Times of Israel)

Bandwidth isn’t the only thing the burgeoning cell network is consuming more of. Already electricity costs account for a large chunk – as much as a third – of operating costs, and that amount will likely get larger as networks get bigger and more devices come on line. [...]

To solve that problem, eVolution Networks has developed a big-data solution that examines the relationship between phones, usage rates, locations, energy costs, and other factors, to activate and deactivate base stations as needed.

And although it sounds like a technical, even prosaic solution, top investor Warren Buffett likes the idea – enough to invest in the company. eVolution announced this week that Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary IES Holding and GE Ventures have invested $22.5 million.

(See also: eVolution's press release)

Geronimo Energy Sells Portfolio Of Wind And Solar Projects To BHE Renewables (North American Wind Power)

Geronimo Energy has sold a portfolio of wind and solar energy projects to BHE Renewables, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

The sale includes the Grande Prairie Wind Farm, located in Holt County, Neb.; the Walnut Ridge Wind Farm in Bureau County, Ill.; and a portfolio of Minnesota solar project developments. The Grand Prairie and Walnut Ridge acquisitions were previously announced by BHE Renewables.

Berkshire Hathaway Cuts Stakes in Charter Communications, Viacom (WSJ Moneybeat)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reduced its stake in several media-company holdings–including Charter Communications Inc., Viacom Inc. and Liberty Global PLC–in the first quarter. [...] Berkshire increased its stake in 21st Century Fox by 1.48 million shares. [...] Berkshire sold 3.28 million shares in National Oilwell Varco, in its latest move away from energy companies that have been hurt by the collapse in oil prices. [...] Additionally, in the most recent quarter, Berkshire reduced its stake in Bank of New York Mellon Corp., selling off 1.3 million shares.

As always, Dataroma has an excellent chart of Berkshire Hathaway's holdings, highlighting the most recent changes.

Berkshire CEOs pull back the curtain on Buffett and business (Fort Worth Business Press)

On Monday, May 18, an executive panel featuring the CEOs of four Fort Worth-based Berkshire Hathaway companies – Dennis Knautz of Acme Brick, Carl Ice of BNSF, Randy Watson of Justin Brands and Paul Andrews of TTI – sat with moderator Matt Rose, executive chairman of BNSF, and discussed working with Buffett. The event, titled Breakfast with the Berkshires, was presented by Leadership Fort Worth at the Fort Worth Club. [...]

Aside from BNSF, Acme, Justin and TTI, Berkshire Hathaway continues to have a big interest in North Texas. In October, Berkshire Hathaway acquired Dallas-based Van Tuyl Group, which has several Fort Worth area dealers and is the largest privately owned U.S. auto dealership group. Several other Berkshire Hathaway companies either have large operations here or are subsidiaries of other Berkshire companies. NetJets operates Dallas Jet Charter, and Mouser Electronics in Mansfield is a subsidiary of TTI. Speaking just prior to the panel discussion, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said Berkshire brands contribute thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the region.

Berkshire Hathaway's Sustainable Competitive Advantage (Fool)

Another edge that Berkshire enjoys is its diversification. Its operations and investments span many industries, such as insurance, railroads, energy, home building, jewelry, furniture, paint, private jets, candy, recreational vehicles, ice cream, chemicals, newspapers, underwear, tools, food-service equipment, and car dealerships, among others. When one sector is in a slump, others may not be, and can provide offsetting effects. That's especially true because some of his businesses are in defensive and not very cyclical industries: When the economy is stalled or slumping, people will still use energy and buy insurance and underwear.

Time to Take Profit in Berkshire Hathaway Stock? (Fool)

Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) (NYSE:BRK-B), has been rewarding shareholders handsomely for many decades. (Indeed, the company just celebrated its 50th anniversary, with 40,000-plus shareholders gathering in Omaha for the company's annual meeting.) Over the past 30 years, its stock has grown by an annual average of 17.3%, and over the past decade, it has returned a market-trouncing 10.2%.

After all that growth, is it time to take profit in Berkshire Hathaway stock? Should you consider selling?

Warren Buffett can’t seem to get enough of Wells Fargo (San Francisco Business Times)

Warren Buffett appears to have embraced the adage that you can never get enough of a good thing.

At least that might explain why he recently plowed more money into some of his largest holdings, including some $350 million into Wells Fargo, which he has described as his favorite bank. He was picking up shares of the San Francisco-based bank even as the stock traded at all-time highs this year. Perhaps Buffett sees Wells fitting into his strategy of buying wonderful companies at a “fair price.”

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Launches Crime Protection with Innovative Impersonation Endorsement in Canada (Marketwatch)

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) today announced that it is introducing the Crime Protection Policy and the Executive Impersonation Coverage endorsement for large public and private companies in Canada.

"Designed by BHSI executives with more than three decades in the fidelity and crime insurance market, our Crime Protection Policy makes it easy for brokers and customers in Canada to secure broad coverage and address the rising risk of fraud losses," said Michael Densham, Vice President, Executive and Professional Lines, Canada, BHSI.

Berkshire News Briefs - 5/14/15

What Is Berkshire Hathaway? (WSJ Moneybeat)

A good overview if you're new here.

At one time, Berkshire made linings for men’s suits. Now, its various 100%-owned subsidiaries make cowboy boots, floor enamel and Ginsu knives; sell ear-piercing tools, diamond rings and encyclopedias; rent topiaries, candelabras and refrigerated trailers; provide insulated bags for pizza-delivery men, uniforms for police officers and shoulder pads for football players… and much, much, much more.

If Berkshire’s wholly-owned companies were independent, nine of them would be among the Fortune 500.

Is 3G Capital Dragging Berkshire Hathaway Over To The "Dark Side"? (Fool)

Warren Buffett was forced to defend his association with 3G Capital from the beginning of the ritual Q&A session at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting last Saturday, as a shareholder said that "he cannot make a moral case" for the Brazilian investment firm's aggressive cost-cutting programs at acquired companies. Given that Berkshire Hathaway's partnership with 3G Capital is more likely to expand than shrink over the next decade, Berkshire shareholders ought to understand its nature. In fact, 3G's methods are not inconsistent with Mr. Buffett's approach to business, which is, well, all business.

BNSF Extends Rail-Service Upgrades After ‘Substandard’ Performance (WSJ)

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. is extending its operating improvement plans as the railroad seeks to recover from “significant service-related challenges” that the carrier and its customers have struggled with over the past year.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the railroad’s parent, said BNSF has seen its network operate more smoothly lately as it has boosted capacity by expanding lines, adding locomotives and bringing in new hires. “We plan to continue our capital expansion and operational improvement initiatives in 2015 in order to meet customer demand and improve and maintain service levels,” the Berkshire said in its first-quarter 10-Q filing late Friday.

Berkshire’s BNSF to Pave Way for Long-Distance Drone Flights (Bloomberg)

BNSF Railway Co., owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will be among the first companies to operate a commercial drone over hundreds of miles in a U.S. research program to test the safety of pilot-less flights.

A camera-equipped drone will fly as far as 400 miles (640 kilometers) along tracks in rural areas to inspect rails, BNSF said. The Federal Aviation Administration also chose CNN and Precision Hawk USA Inc. to make flights beyond the visual line of sight of an operator in unpopulated areas, a practice that is currently banned.

The use of drones “increases the frequency of inspection. We have some very remote areas,” Gary Grissum, BNSF’s assistant vice president of telecommunications, said in an interview. “We’re looking to be able to detect very small defaults in the rail.”

North Dakota town evacuated after oil train derails (CNBC)

A tiny central North Dakota town has been evacuated after the derailment of an oil train.

The incident displaced residents of Heimdal, sheriff's officials told local media. The accident involved a BNSF Railway train with 109 cars, five of which were burning. Six to seven cars derailed and the cause of the event is unknown, according to officials.

Buffett defends Berkshire Hathaway's manufactured home unit, addresses other investments (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Investor Warren Buffett again defended Berkshire Hathaway's manufactured home unit Monday and praised some of his company's biggest investments.

Buffett discussed Clayton Homes' lending practices, interest rates, Berkshire's investments and other topics during an interview on CNBC Monday. Over the weekend, he answered questions in front of more than 40,000 people at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.[...]

Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary to build wind farm project (Omaha World Herald)

A subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will announce Thursday that it plans to build the Grande Prairie Wind Farm, which would be Nebraska’s largest wind-powered electric generating plant and increase the state’s wind energy capacity by nearly 50 percent.

BHE Renewables, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, purchased Grande Prairie from Geronimo Energy of Edina, Minnesota, which had acquired it from a Chicago developer in 2013. The other companies arranged leases, got permits and completed other development steps.

Construction is to start this summer on the 400-megawatt project, located about 12 miles northeast of O’Neill, and be completed in 2016, adding to the state’s existing 810-megawatt wind energy capacity.

Berkshire Hathaway Banking on Midwest Solar? (RTO Insider)

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy disclosed that it recently acquired a site for solar generation development in MISO’s central region. The “site” consists of 74 individual “locations” not to exceed 1 MW each, according to the company’s quarterly property acquisition report. [...]

The company did not disclose exactly where the site is located. The company is not ready to make an announcement on the project, spokesman David Caris said. MISO is a new locale for the company’s solar portfolio. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway’s planned solar expansion in MISO’s coal-dependent central region — which includes Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Illinois — appears designed to take advantage of increased demand for renewables as a result of federal environmental regulations.

PacifiCorp buying output from Oregon solar farm (Argus)

Berkshire Hathaway utility PacifiCorp will procure renewable generation from a 7MW solar installation in Oregon by the end of 2015. [...]

PacifiCorp expects that the plant will supply power to about 1,000 residents in the town of Bly, Oregon. The company serves 1.8mn customers across Utah, Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho and parts of northern California.

The 7MW plant will be built on a former 40-acre lumber mill site, with 20,000 solar panels, and will become PacifiCorp's largest operational solar facility in Oregon.

Forest River to break ground this week on Michigan manufacturing facility (Elkhart Truth)

Forest River will break ground this week on a new manufacturing facility in Michigan.

The Elkhart-based company announced plans in January to build three 100,000-square-foot facilities in White Pigeon and create 396 jobs in the next three years. [...]

Forest River is investing more than $7 million in the project and is receiving substantial incentives from state and local governments.

Nebraska Furniture Mart officially opens in The Colony (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)

Nebraska Furniture Mart executives told hundreds of local dignitaries, employees and others attending a ribbon-cutting Thursday that the store is finally ready to take on the throngs of shoppers it was built for. [...]

Blumkin said the Omaha-based retailer, a unit of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, had several locations to choose from, but decided on the spot along the Sam Rayburn Tollway and Plano Parkway partly because of the cooperation from local entities. It has its own exit from the tollway, for example.

Due to illness, Noel steps aside for Sivley at Berkshire Hathaway (Travel Weekly)

John Noel, president of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) and founder of Travel Guard International, MyAssist and Insure America, today is moving to an executive advisory role after being diagnosed with early stages of Lewy Body Disease.

He will be succeeded as president by Dean Sivley, who had served as president of Travel Guard–Americas and was chief e-business officer of Travel Guard’s global operations after Noel left that company in 2009, three years after selling it to AIG. Sivley most recently served as CEO of the car service GroundLink.

Part of Warren Buffett's sugar empire is getting healthier, just slightly (Fortune)

Dairy Queen, according to a letter written by one of its executives that was released by an advocacy group, is pulling soft drinks from its kids menu. The letter, which is dated May 11, says the company along with its franchisees had voted to make the switch. The ice cream chain said the change would take place as soon as September 1 because that’s how long it would take the company to change its restaurant menu boards. After that, only water and milk will be the only beverages on the kid’s menu at Dairy Queen restaurants.

Start saving, Warren Buffett to auction off another lunch (Telegraph)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has once again agreed to have lunch with the winner of an upcoming auction to benefit a San Francisco charity.

The 16th annual auction to benefit Glide, which provides food and services to the poor and homeless, will be held on eBay from May 31 to June 5, the charity said.

Past auctions have raised about $17.8m, including a record $3,456,789 from an anonymous bidder in 2012. Last year's winner, Andy Chua of Singapore, bid $2,166,766.

Warren Buffett’s Neighbors Selling House, Asking 10 Berkshire Hathaway Shares (Inquisitr)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is famous for his frugality, living in the same Omaha home he purchased in 1958 for $31,500, yet his neighbors across the street have a slightly higher, and slightly tongue-in-cheek, asking price in mind for their five-bedroom house.

Homeowner Phil Huston says that though the property has been recently valued at $866,000, he and his wife are asking for 10 Class A shares of the company their famed neighbor has helmed for half a century, Berkshire Hathaway. While at first glance, this may not seem like a lot, Warren Buffett has famously never split Berkshire Hathaway’s stock, as Yahoo Homes points out. This means that each individual share of the conglomerate currently sells for $215,800 as of closing Friday, making the asking price of Huston’s home $2.158 million.

See Warren Buffett singing Coke's song (Fortune Video)

Warren Buffett is smiling about Coke again, and singing about it.

The billionaire investor made a special guest appearance at Coca-Cola’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday. Buffett was introduced with a video of him singing, ukulele in hand, “I’d like to Teach the World to Sing” from Coke’s classic hilltop commercials.

Berkshire Hathaway 2015 Annual Meeting Notes

Best of 2015 Berkshire Shareholder Meeting (YouTube / WSJ Video)

Highlights of the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. The devoted came out in full force to celebrate Warren Buffett’s 50th year running the company, meet other investors and shop.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Meeting Notes (New York Times)

The New York Times' extensive notes on the event, in a live-blog format.

Much of the questioning this year was standard, with a primary topic being how Berkshire would fare once Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger departed. Those inquiries ranged from how Berkshire would maintain its culture to what sort of qualities the company’s next chief executive and next chief investment officer (or officers) would need.

Sharp questions about various news topics arose, from Clayton Homes to 3G Capital.

Mr. Buffett also addressed smaller-scale topics like the reinsurance business, one of Berkshire’s powerhouse divisions that has become a trendy investment but that the billionaire says he believes will decline in coming years.

Recap: The 2015 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (WSJ Moneybeat)

The Wall Street Journal's notes and live blog of the meeting.

Mr. Buffett played host to roughly 40,000 people at the company’s annual meeting Saturday, an event that swells the population of Mr. Buffett’s hometown by nearly 10% each year. Over the hours and hours of question-and-answer that are the hallmark of the meeting, Mr. Buffett and his vice chairman, Charlie Munger, fielded questions about investing and markets, Berkshire’s relationship with 3G Capital and its investments in International Business Machines Corp. and Coca-Cola Co.

MoneyBeat live-blogged the all-day event from Mr. Buffett’s first sip of cherry Coke to his last bite of See’s candy.

5 Critical Takeaways From Berkshire Hathaway's 50th Anniversary Meeting (Fool)

In its 50th year, Berkshire is still a success story that defies traditional classification, both for the scale of shareholder wealth accrual and its seemingly impossible string of consecutive wins. From its relatively humble roots as an investment partnership -- itself an incredibly difficult business -- to its radical several-decade transformation into an investment, insurance, and industrial conglomerate, Berkshire has continuously defied classification. Where many businesses hardly withstand the test of a decade or two, Berkshire has dominated across a decades-long horizon. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Shopping Frenzy (WOWT Video)

A sea of shareholders eagerly waited outside Omaha's CenturyLink Center today for a chance to spend some of their Berkshire Hathaway profits during the first day of an exclusive shopping experience.

Once inside, they took advantage of special shareholder deals on everything from running shoes to candy, all trucked in and sold by Warren Buffet's famous roster of profitable businesses.

Wells Fargo’s Stagecoach Rolls Into Omaha for Berkshire Meeting (WSJ Moneybeat)

Wells Fargo & Co. rarely misses a chance to wheel out one of its iconic stagecoaches. Little surprise, then, that the bank will be rolling two into Omaha, Neb., this weekend for one of the biggest finance events of the year.

Before the doors to the CenturyLink auditorium open at 7 a.m. on May 2 for Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, shareholders of Warren Buffett’s company waiting in line will get to see two longhorn steers and the Wells Fargo stagecoach marching down Omaha’s 10th street to mark 50 years of Berkshire under Mr. Buffett.

NetJets pilots union takes case to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders (Financial News)

More than 400 pilots and family members took the fight to preserve their livelihoods and security to the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting by staging an informational picket on Saturday. [...]

The pilots, whose professional interests are represented by the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), were joined by NetJets flight attendants and Flight Options pilots represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

City removes sign apparently criticizing Berkshire (Omaha World Herald)

City officials are uncertain who installed a sign reading “BRK profits from pollution” on the pedestrian overpass between Elmwood Park and Memorial Park in Omaha on Wednesday. [...]

A city crew removed the sign because it was not authorized, said Mike Gaughen, who handles such permits for the public works department.

He said the city doesn’t allow advertising or messages about controversial issues on public property such as the overpass, “certainly not criticizing a major corporation like that.”

Berkshire Hathaway 1Q15 Earnings

10-Q Quarterly Report

Company Press Release (a brief summary)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Reports a Solid 20% Increase in Operating Income in the First Quarter (Fool)

Ahead of its annual shareholders meeting over the weekend, Berkshire Hathaway reported first-quarter results for 2015. Operating earnings, which exclude the impact of gains or losses in its equity and derivatives contracts, jumped by 20%, to $4.24 billion, up from $3.53 billion in the first quarter of 2014. Net income also jumped 9.7%, to $5.16 billion, or $3,143 per Class A share.

Investment results were less than spectacular, largely the result of losses from its outsize public stock portfolio. The company reported losing $1.02 billion from its equity portfolio. [...]

Berkshire Profit Climbs 9.8% on Burger King, Railroad Gain (Bloomberg)

Berkshire’s biggest unit, the BNSF railroad, contributed $1.05 billion to quarterly earnings, compared with $724 million a year earlier. The railroad said last week that it won back market share for grain and agriculture commodities that it lost to Union Pacific Corp. in 2014. [...]

The manufacturing, service and retail segment, which includes toolmaker Iscar and chemical company Lubrizol, added $1.12 billion to earnings, compared with $933 million a year earlier. Profit climbed 59 percent to $230 million at the segment selling building products as the Shaw carpet business and Johns Manville insulation provider benefited from higher sales and lower costs for energy and raw materials.

Profit at the utility unit, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, fell to $421 million from $452 million a year earlier as milder weather limited demand. The business operates natural-gas pipelines that stretch from the Great Lakes to Texas and power companies in states including Iowa and Nevada. [...]

Berkshire Starts 2015 on a More Solid Note (Morningstar)

Book value per Class A equivalent share at the end of the first quarter was $146,963--up 6% year over year and basically flat when compared with the fourth quarter of 2014. This was lower than our forecast, which had book value per share increasing to $149,841 at the end of the first quarter. The company closed out the first quarter of 2015 with $63.7 billion in cash on its books, up marginally from $63.3 billion at the end of last year, even though the firm spent $4.1 billion to close out the Van Tuyl deal in early March. Berkshire did not buy back any shares during the first quarter of 2015.

Looking more closely at Berkshire's insurance operations, only two of the firm's four insurance lines--Geico and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group--posted earned premium growth during the quarter, with General Re and Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group reporting another quarterly decline. [...]