Tens of thousands of investors will be flocking to Omaha this weekend, which can only mean one thing: Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders' meeting is about to take place. Unlike in the past, this year's event was devoid of Charlie Munger (Charlie Munger), the “stock god” Warren Buffett (Warren Buffett)'s long-term business partner, and various circles are expected to show a more solemn tone. According to the schedule, veteran Pakistan will join hands with Abel and Ajit Jain (Ajit Jain), the head of the insurance business, to answer questions from shareholders.

According to regulations, at the annual shareholders' meeting, Ba Lao, as the head, must personally answer all kinds of questions raised by shareholders.

Currently, Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares have about 3 million shareholders, the vast majority of whom are investors deeply influenced by the Balaos value investment philosophy. Moreover, many fans of Ba Lao bought only 1 share in order to get a ticket to attend the shareholders' meeting.

Unfortunately, at this year's shareholders' meeting, we will no longer be able to see Ba Lao's mentor and friend, Munger.

And the “lonely” Buffett will also be 94 years old this year. In his words, he has already entered the “overtime phase of his life.” Therefore, discussions on Berkshire's successor are bound to be the focus of discussions at this year's shareholders' meeting.

Has the CEO succession plan changed

Two days before this year's shareholders' meeting, Ronald Olson (Ronald Olson), who has been a director of Berkshire since 1997, publicly endorsed Vice Chairman Greg Abel (Greg Abel) as the successor CEO, saying that the 61-year-old Abell thinks very strategically and makes decisive decisions.

This stage indicates that Berkshire's succession plans have not changed. Abel was promoted to vice chairman responsible for all other businesses other than insurance in 2018. At the 2021 shareholders' meeting, Munger said that Abel would be the successor and was publicly confirmed by Pakistan and Laos.

According to the schedule, veteran Pakistan will join hands with Abel and Ajit Jain (Ajit Jain), the head of the insurance business, to answer questions from shareholders.

As is customary, Buffett's question and answer session will be at least 5 hours long, involving 40 to 60 questions.

The benefits are here

Notably, Berkshire will also announce first-quarter 2024 earnings on Saturday morning.

As we all know, Buffett releases its quarterly report over the weekend so investors have time to fully digest the content before the market reopens on Monday.

According to FactSet's estimates, Berkshire's operating profit is expected to increase 21% to reach $6,702 per Class A share.

Since this year, Berkshire's Class A shares have risen by nearly 10%, surpassing the overall 7.5% of the S&P 500 index.

Berkshire reports that operating revenue increased significantly in the fourth quarter, reaching 8.5 billion US dollars, up 28 percent from 6.6 billion US dollars in the same period last year.

Operating revenue for the year increased to US$37.3 billion. After setting a record of US$30.8 billion in 2022, it rose again and ended with a net profit of US$96.2 billion, in stark contrast to the net loss of US$22.8 billion in 2022.

Reviewing investment strategies — reducing Apple holdings and betting that Japan will start losing money?

Although Palau prohibited the questioner at the shareholders' meeting from “asking us exactly what we bought and sold,” people are still hoping that Brazil can explain the major changes in the investment portfolio over the past few quarters.

One of the biggest questions is, what is the “secret stock” position that Pakistan has applied to keep secret by the US Securities Regulatory Commission (SEC) for two consecutive quarters?

Wall Street generally speculates that it is a bank stock because the 13F filing shows that Berkshire's cost of holding shares in the “banking, insurance, and finance” category has risen by several billion dollars.

The last time Berkshire requested secrecy was to invest in Chevron Oil and Verizon Telecom in 2020.

The second was the reason for “reducing Apple stock holdings.”

Over the years, Ba Lao has had a soft spot for Apple, and even called this type of position the second most important outside of Berkshire's insurance business. However, according to the annual letter to shareholders issued in February this year, Berkshire sold 10 million Apple shares in the fourth quarter of 2023, reducing its holdings by about US$1,822 million.

As US interest rates will remain high for a long time, causing the stock prices of many tech giants to lose momentum, shareholders are very concerned about where Balao sees potential investment opportunities.

In addition, as of the fourth quarter of 2023, Berkshire's cash reserves rose to a record $167.6 billion, making shareholders also want to know more about how Berkshire will use the huge amount of cash.

On the other hand, on April 18 of this year, Berkshire also decided on the amount of Japanese yen bonds to be issued, raising a total of 263.3 billion yen (about 1.71 billion US dollars), triggering speculation in the market that it might further increase its holdings of Japanese stocks.

A few months ago, the Nikkei 225 Index broke the 1989 record high with the support of Pakistan and Lao.

Macroeconomic outlook

This week, the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged. With the release of the latest non-farm payrolls data, it has rekindled expectations that the market will cut interest rates. This grand event inevitably discussed Pakistan's outlook on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and views on the US economy.

Another focus is China. This year, this topic has become an inescapable topic at shareholders' meetings. Last year, Pakistan said that both China and the US are competitive and can achieve the vision of prosperity and development. Therefore, the two countries need to live amicably, which is almost necessary considering the next 200 years. The work of the government is very important. Both sides should understand each other and not do anything that harms the relationship between the two sides.

edit/emily