Source: Barron's Chinese
Author: Andrew Barry

Invest continuously in winners, and do not increase shareholding in losing investments, is one of Buffett's favorite proverbs. $Berkshire Hathaway-A (BRK.A.US)$ / $Berkshire Hathaway-B (BRK.B.US)$ Recently increased shareholding. $Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US)$ and $Sirius XM (SIRI.US)$ The operation seems to violate this principle.

Buffett mentioned this Topics in his 1988 annual letter to shareholders and praised Peter Lynch, who was then the superstar fund manager at Fidelity, responsible for managing the Fidelity Magellan fund.

Buffett wrote: "We are completely the opposite of those who rush to Sell their Stocks to lock in profits when the company's performance is good, yet insist on holding when the company's performance is below expectations; Peter Lynch aptly likened this behavior to 'pulling out flowers to water weeds'."

For years, Buffett has followed this practice, continuously investing in Berkshire Hathaway-B's $300 billion investment portfolio.$American Express (AXP.US)$andcoca-cola (KO.US) Waiting for the big winner.

However, this year Buffett violated this principle and reduced his shareholding in Apple by two-thirds to 0.3 billion shares. $Apple (AAPL.US)$ According to estimates by Barron's, the reduction in Apple shares caused Buffett to miss out on more than $35 billion in earnings and potentially left him with a tax bill totaling up to $20 billion.

This year, both Occidental Petroleum and Sirius XM have plummeted, with share prices consistently below Berkshire Hathaway's average buying cost. From Tuesday to Thursday this week, Berkshire spent about $0.405 billion to buy 8.9 million shares of Occidental Petroleum at an average price of $46 per share, increasing its holdings to 0.2642 billion shares, with a holding ratio of 28%, valued at about $12 billion. Occidental Petroleum has been one of the largest stock purchases by Buffett in recent years.

Since June of this year, Berkshire's holdings in Occidental Petroleum have not changed, and the purchase was made when the share price was at a 52-week low. According to estimates by Barron's, Berkshire's average buying cost is about $53 per share, resulting in an unrealized loss of about $1.5 billion.

Influenced by Buffett's shareholding, Occidental Petroleum rose 3.9% on Friday, reaching $47.13.

From Tuesday to Thursday, Berkshire Hathaway-B bought about 5 million shares of Satellite Broadcasting Company Sirius XM for over $0.1 billion, with an average purchase price of approximately $21 per share, close to its 52-week low. Berkshire currently holds 0.1175 billion shares of Sirius XM, valued at about $2.3 billion, with a shareholding ratio of approximately 35%.

Sirius XM increased by 12% on Friday to $23.08, but has fallen nearly 60% year-to-date.

The year-to-date decline is due to investors' concerns that the company's user count may decline next year because of an aging customer base, along with other reasons including slight performance guidance declines and $10 billion in debt.

It is believed that Sirius XM's shareholding is managed by Buffett's deputy Ted Weschler, who, together with Todd Combs, manages approximately 10% of Berkshire's stock portfolio. Barron's estimates that Berkshire's investment in Sirius XM may face losses of up to 50%.

Berkshire did not respond to reporters' requests for comments.

Berkshire has also increased its holdings in companies providing Internet Plus-Related domain registration services.$VeriSign (VRSN.US)$This is the first Shareholding in the past ten years. Berkshire Hathaway-A spent approximately 45 million dollars to Buy VeriSign, currently holding 13 million shares worth about 2.5 billion dollars. This investment has been relatively successful for Berkshire Hathaway-A, with the stock price rising over 200% in the past ten years.

编辑/jayden