Snowflake win may be sign of good things to come at Berkshire
| Berkshire's Snowflake stake doubles over three days It's way too early to spike the ball and do a touchdown dance, but we assume Warren Buffett and his portfolio managers are happy right now about Berkshire's unusual investment in tech IPO Snowflake.
With a flurry of buying after the stock started trading around lunchtime on Wednesday, it's doubled from its IPO price of $120 to close today at $240 per share.
That means the market value of Berkshire's stake, estimated at around 6.1 million shares, also doubled from around $735 million to $1.47 billion.  That's on paper though, not actual spendable money, assuming Berkshire still holds all the shares. And whether the cloud data company will turn out to be a long-run winner is yet to be determined.
Given Buffett's aversion to both tech and IPOs, this investment is almost certainly the work of portfolio managers Todd Combs and/or Ted Weschler.
And on Wednesday's "Closing Bell," money manager Josh Brown said that's a big positive for the stock, because it's a sign that Berkshire's strategy is shifting away from "these clumsy, ridiculous 20th century investments like Wells Fargo and Kraft Heinz and the stupid airlines."
"They are becoming participants in the 21st century and nobody is valuing this company as though they could seriously play there. They have the cash. They have the clout."
Brown predicts Berkshire "is on the verge of undergoing the mother of all re-ratings" that will send its stock sharply higher.
The Class B shares closed today at $218.21. Brown believes "Berkshire should be $250 minimum, if not $300 at some point, because they're going to play in some of the most important markets in the new century and they've got new investment stewards doing that work with Buffett's blessing."
Buffett silent on White House race Even though he enthusiastically and publicly supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their presidential bids, Buffett has not said anything this time around, although he presumably plans to vote for Joe Biden, based on his track record of recent years.
The Wall Street Journal notes that Buffett lives in Nebraska's Second Congressional District. Because the state awards its electoral votes based on who wins each district, it could play an important role in a close election.
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BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
  BERKSHIRE'S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS - Sep 18, 2020
 Berkshire's top stock holdings by market value, based on today's closing prices.
Holdings are as of June 30, 2020 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filing on August 14, 2020 and other filings, except for Bank of America, which is as of August 4, 2020, and Wells Fargo, which is as of August 14, 2020.
The full list of holdings and current market values is (usually) available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker. Right now, however, that page isn't showing the data due to a technical problem. Our tech team is working on a fix.
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-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
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