Based on the aggregated intelligence of 140,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Berkshire's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Berkshire facts
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Headquarters (Founded)
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Omaha, Neb. (1889)
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Market Cap
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$155.3 billion
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Trailing-12-Month Revenue
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$104.9 billion
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Management
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Chairman/CEO Warren Buffett (since 1970)
Vice Chairman Charles Munger (since 1978)
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Subsidiaries
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Insurance: GEICO, General Re
Utilities and Energy: MidAmerican Energy
Manufacturing, Service, and Retailing: Clayton Homes, Nebraska Furniture Mart, See's Candies, Dairy Queen
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Compound Annual Book Value Growth (1965-2008)
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20.3%
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Competitors
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General Electric
Progressive (NYSE: PGR)
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CAPS Members Bullish on BRK Also Bullish on
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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
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CAPS Members Bearish on BRK Also Bearish on
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Citigroup (NYSE: C)
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)
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Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 97.5% of the 3,074 members who have rated Berkshire believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include tomk104 and htownjester.
Late last month, tomk104 tapped the stock as a rather genius decision:
Superlative management, remarkably thoughtful approach to business. Buffett's annual letter to shareholders is required reading for Wall Street. I'm equally impressed by their careful succession planning for when he's gone.
In a pitch from two weeks earlier, htwonjester also expects the Berkshire miracle to keep compounding:
Buffett has been saying he can't continue performance record into the future for the past 50 years. What he says is conservative, his results are unbelieveable....
Company is in a unique position to make investments which, though Buffett protests his hands are tied by big cash, actually have strategic advantage in their scale- advantage is this: no one else has the cash to lend to [General Electric], [Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)]when they need it. No one else can make $1M or $1B bets on low probability events and do it with such extraordinary intelligence and business insight and foresight....
And hey, if they ever run out of good ideas they'll just give the money back in buybacks and/or divis. So there are plenty of levers left even when investments are exhausted.
What do you think about Berkshire, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. The CAPS community is waiting to hear your opinions. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!
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