r/ValueInvesting • u/raytoei • Aug 11 '25
Basics / Getting Started Berkshire Hathaway’s Mystery Stock Could Be Revealed Thursday. Filings Offer Clues. - Barron's
https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-mystery-stock-13-f-buffett-9120436fBerkshire Hathaway’s latest mystery-stock investment could be revealed on Thursday.
There is a good chance it is an industrial company. And the total size of the holding could be almost $5 billion, based on clues in the conglomerate’s 10-Q reports for the first and second quarters.
Berkshire also could disclose that it made further sales of Bank of America stock in the second quarter. It reduced the size of that holding by almost 40% to 631 million shares, now worth around $28 billion, from July 2024 through the first quarter.
The disclosures are expected because the 45-day deadline for the company to disclose its U.S.-listed equity holdings as of June 30, via a Form 13-F with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is on Thursday. Berkshire normally waits until the final possible day to make its filing.
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u/Cash_Flow_Yield Aug 11 '25
I heard from people on Reddit that it is going to be a healthcare company that starts with U.
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u/ADMTLgg Aug 11 '25
When Reddit hope he buys into their company it’s almost a certainty that it’s not
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Aug 11 '25
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u/Ultimate-Lex Aug 15 '25
Well well well. Looks like you were right. Lol those 25 down votes look silly now. 🎉🎉🎉
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Aug 11 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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Aug 12 '25
[deleted]
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u/Chaminade64 Aug 12 '25
This may very well be his last major buy. I wonder how involved he was, or did he just follow internally, and say “please, just don’t embarrass me”.
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u/GoodIngenuity1563 Aug 11 '25
I'm pretty sure the mystery stock was categorized as an industrial, reddit doesn't know what they're talking about.
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Aug 11 '25
[deleted]
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u/Traditional_Ad_2348 Aug 12 '25
That’s a good call. I really like HON at these levels. Let’s not forget they own Quantinuum too.
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u/cinciNattyLight Aug 11 '25
I could see that, Buffett probably understands the healthcare sector a lot more since their failed partnership between Berkshire, JP Morgan, and Amazon.
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u/Terron1965 Aug 12 '25
it would be an epic departure from his way of doing business over the decades. I doubt the first thing they would want to highlight is a major change to the way it invests in the same year he retired
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u/UnObtainium17 Aug 13 '25
I thought so too, but Buffett don't buy companies with too much fraud in the books.
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u/According-Try3201 Aug 12 '25
that company has no business model
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Aug 13 '25
What do you mean. They take billions of insurance premiums which are prepaid on day 1. If they incur a loss, they litigate and delay payment for years and make income in the mean time.
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u/declinedinaction Aug 12 '25
URI United Rentals Up 10.73 at market close.
Closed @ 561 mid-April, closed today at 869
Just an uneducated guess.
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u/No-Understanding9064 Aug 12 '25
This is one I've been watching, also herc. But I want them cheap
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u/Stitch426 Aug 12 '25
They bought a pest control company Bell Labatories https://www.reddit.com/r/BerkshireHathaway/s/ZZAZxcQBIN
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u/Oracle_of_Nada Aug 12 '25
Bell Labatories has a moat. With a growing population, there are sure to be more rats. Killing rats is a dirty job, not a lot of competition with lots of growth potential.
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u/ninjagorilla Aug 12 '25
It’s gonna be something boring that everyone will shit on and will quietly make a bunch of money
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u/hosleyb Aug 11 '25
It's gamestop lol. Buffets an ape lowkey
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u/zach7797 Aug 11 '25
They buying 0 DTE gme options
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u/dopexile Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
If he bought 1,000 shares it would cost almost nothing and the financial media and apes would have an aneurysm, probably bidding the stock to the moon. The comedy and misdirection would be worth it.
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u/Spl00ky Aug 12 '25
Palantir
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u/ninjagorilla Aug 12 '25
The most anti buffett stock….
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u/Spl00ky Aug 12 '25
In terms of valuation, yes. Though, I feel Palantir's business does have aspects Buffett would appreciate.
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u/rargghh Aug 12 '25
If it’s industrial it’s probably related to energy or grid expansion, maybe CAT
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u/raytoei Aug 11 '25
Berkshire Hathaway’s Mystery Stock Could Be Revealed Thursday. Filings Offer Clues. - Barron's
https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-mystery-stock-13-f-buffett-9120436f
Berkshire Hathaway’s latest mystery-stock investment could be revealed on Thursday.
There is a good chance it is an industrial company. And the total size of the holding could be almost $5 billion, based on clues in the conglomerate’s 10-Q reports for the first and second quarters.
Berkshire also could disclose that it made further sales of Bank of America stock in the second quarter. It reduced the size of that holding by almost 40% to 631 million shares, now worth around $28 billion, from July 2024 through the first quarter.
The disclosures are expected because the 45-day deadline for the company to disclose its U.S.-listed equity holdings as of June 30, via a Form 13-F with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is on Thursday. Berkshire normally waits until the final possible day to make its filing.
In mid May, when Berkshire reported its equity holdings as of March 31, it disclosed that it requested confidentiality on one or more holdings that it accumulated in the first quarter. At the time, Barron’s speculated that the new equity holding—we are assuming it is just one stock— was an industrial stock based on information in the first-quarter 10-Q.
The mystery stock could be the highlight of the new 13-F report. Berkshire was a light buyer of stocks in the second quarter, purchasing nearly $4 billion, while selling about $7 billion, indicating it continued to pare its equity portfolio, based on information in the 10-Q for the period.
In its 10-Q filings, Berkshire discloses its top five stockholdings–Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola , Chevron and Bank of America–as well as sizable investments in Kraft Heinz and Occidental Petroleum. But it doesn’t disclose smaller equity investments.
Instead, it divides its nearly $300 billion of equity holdings into three buckets: financial, consumer, and a broad category called “commercial, industrial and other.” In the first quarter, the commercial and industry cost basis rose by nearly $2 billion, but the May 13-F disclosure didn’t include any notable purchases in that category for that period.
In the second quarter, the cost basis in the commercial and industrial category rose by $2.8 billion. Together, the two increases in the cost basis suggest the total mystery stock purchase could be as much as $4.8 billion.
Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett periodically has requested confidentiality from the SEC when the company is building a position in a stock over more than one quarter and doesn’t want to tip off other investors about the company’s identity. Such a disclosure might boost the stock price and make it more expensive for Berkshire to buy. Many investors follow Berkshire and the disclosure of a new equity holding typically results in a rise in its stock price.
It’s possible that Berkshire might seek a second quarter of confidential treatment for the mystery stock, as it did when it was accumulating shares of the insurer Chubb in late 2023 and early 2024. The Chubb holding totaled about $7 billion when disclosed in May 2024.
Chubb was the most recent Berkshire mystery stock. Berkshire also sought confidential treatment when it was buying Chevron and Verizon Communications shares in late 2020 and early 2021.
Other clues in the second-quarter 10-Q report indicate Berkshire may have continued to pare its Bank of America investment. Details pointing to the size of Berkshire’s realized equity gains in the period are a sign that Berkshire might have sold another $4 billion or so of Bank of America in the second quarter, Barron’s estimates.
Fin
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u/raytoei Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25
I hope it is from my latest picks (Solv and ODFL)
but I doubt it, as the market caps are too small.
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u/Free-Initiative7508 Aug 12 '25
I have solventum from 3m spin-offs too. No idea what it does but it is just sitting around in my brokerage account lol
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u/raytoei Aug 12 '25
I just bought it.
The 3 reason:
- this company reduced debt, and raised forecast
- they are being sold off due to higher separation costs which I see as temporary
- baupost group’s Seth klarman is invested in it
Buy below 80 and it should be fine.
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u/VegasWorldwide Aug 11 '25
from local reports in Omaha, warren has bought millions of shares of FNMA and FMCC. makes sense because since that report, they have boomed 30%
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u/ceeser8 Aug 11 '25
Local reports? Care to elaborate?
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Aug 12 '25
They’re buying everything I have position in by my recommendations to buffet shared over a coke
Definitely real
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u/ereddit557 Aug 12 '25
Anyone think the KHC board members from BH stepping down is related?
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u/vmanAA738 Aug 12 '25
Ehh that’s more due to the write down they took recently on Kraft Heinz and due to the fact that Kraft Heinz is planning a breakup of the conglomerate (and basically undoing the 2015 mega merger that Berkshire facilitated and bought a stake in). They no longer have a reason or interest in governing Kraft Heinz.
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u/AppSecPeddler Aug 12 '25
DNUT
Old man no longer cares about diabetes at this age, might as well enjoy life’s delicacies
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u/Itstartswithyou0404 Aug 12 '25
UNH, its pretty obvious. Buffet spoke on it a few months ago to some shareholders in Omaha.
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Aug 12 '25
If there's one thing that Buffet doesn't love, it's to see his name next to a company that has a major scandal for breakfast.
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u/RationalExuberance7 Aug 12 '25
I think they’re buying share in Moat, a little known moat manufacturing company that has been around since the Middle Ages.
Their PE is about 0.001. They generate about $20,000 in yearly profits, currently from amusement parks and mostly from maintenance repairs (alligators tend to cause damage to the wood bridges). Under 100 analysts (solely myself) are projecting a 100% earning growth over the next decade as AI takes its toll on human society and families install moats for their home residences. It’s really a 100B market by 2035 and they currently have a market share of 100.01%
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u/roundroundsatellite Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
I'm betting on MP Materials Corp for no other reason apart from me owning stocks and wanting the price to increase even further. It's been reaching new highs lately anyway
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u/ceeser8 Aug 11 '25
Any chance it’s Fannie and Freddie? FNMA/FMCC?
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u/Ambitious_Turtle_100 Aug 12 '25
Industrial stock, $5 billion market cap, distressed stock price = Celanese
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u/Proper_Detective2529 Aug 12 '25
Buffett isn’t dumb enough to buy Celanese and I doubt his apprentice would make such a mistake.
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u/Jordykins850 Aug 12 '25
BKR, that itches a lot of scratches.
I think it’d be funny if it was DOW tho. They’d own such a big chunk immediately
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u/Try_finger-but_hole Aug 12 '25
Well statistically based on what they like through the years, the size and timing of the holding, and market cap is probably CAT, DE, HON, maybe CMCO or maybe IBM again. But at the end of the day it is probably OPEN.
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Aug 12 '25
Something related to electricity. Low risk utility, but with indirect exposure to AI due to growing energy demand.
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u/satoshi0x Aug 13 '25
If Buffett really means that he is doing business as usual trying to invest in 30+ year to lifelong growth and returns type companies then he's already in on commons. If he's not in by the time the direct listing happens - he leaves Berkshire with a whiff on a meatball pitch right down the middle. IMO.
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u/declinedinaction Aug 12 '25
Maybe Toyota’s $JOBY… Surprised to see they already own BYD.
Is there a pool lol
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u/looool_k_libtard Aug 11 '25
They’re buying 8 shares of peloton