Buffett may finally be putting Berkshire's $128B in cash to work
| Are there any bargains yet? FridayWarren Buffett has said many, many times that unlike most people, he doesn't mind when stock prices go down. He prefers to pay less, not more, when he buys for Berkshire's portfolio.
He now has plenty of opportunities to pay less.
On the morning of February 24, when Buffett was live on "Squawk Box," futures indicated the stock market would open with a 3% drop amid concerns COVID-19 would hurt the U.S. and global economies.
He told us, "I don't know how many 3% declines I've had in my lifetime, but there are a lot of them, and I can't think of one you shouldn't have bought on ... if you like to own American businesses, you're getting a chance to buy it 3% cheaper."
That day the Dow closed down 3.6% at 27,960.80.
At the end of Friday's trading, the Dow was 19,173.98, a drop of 33.9% over the four weeks since Buffett was on CNBC.  Berkshire's stock portfolio has similar losses. The total market value of its top 10 holdings each week has fallen from around $203 billion to $133 billion. That's a paper loss of $70 billion, or 34.7%.
The top four stocks, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and American Express are also down substantially, with the financials being hit the hardest.
These numbers assume Berkshire hasn't changed the size of those stakes since its end-of-December portfolio snapshot filed with the SEC.
And it's unlikely Berkshire has been doing any selling as prices fell, given Buffett's confidence that America always bounces back in the long run. (See "Highlights from the Archive" below.)
But has Berkshire been buying?
Buffett hasn't given us a "Buy American. I am" signal like the one he delivered during 2008's financial crisis.
It seems very likely, however, that Buffett and company are finding solid bargains as prices have plunged. And they have a lot of cash to work with: a record $128 billion. (Some analysts were wondering late last year why he wasn't doing anything with it.)
Except for the stocks in which Berkshire has a stake of 10% or more, the company doesn't have to tell us what it's been doing until it files its end-of-March snapshot in mid-May.
Don't be surprised to see that Buffett and his portfolio managers have been on a buying spree.
BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET Some links may require a subscription
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE
As we all face an enormous challenge right now, it may be helpful to hear Warren Buffett explain again why he always says, "Never bet against America."
Here's a compilation we first posted for last year's Independence Day (hence the fireworks) of excerpts from Berkshire shareholders meetings and CNBC interviews. BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
  BERKSHIRE'S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS
 Berkshire's top stock holdings by market value, based on Friday's closing prices. The number of shares held is as of December 31, 2019, as disclosed in the company's February 14 13F SEC filing, except for Delta Air Lines, which is as of February 27, 2020, and DaVita, which is as of March 16, 2020.
The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
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Please stay safe.
-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
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