Billionaire investor Warren Buffett signaled on Saturday that he has lost none of his enduring faith in US economy and his company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRKa.N.
In his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, the 92-year-old Buffett urged investors to focus on the big picture over the long term, rather than higher inflation and other factors that 2022 dampened stock prices, though not Berkshire’s.
He also urged Americans not to be confused by “self-criticism and self-doubt,” saying the country’s dynamism has benefited Berkshire during his 58 years running the company from Omaha, Nebraska, and will continue to do so after he passes the reins.
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“We trust the American tailwind and although it has calmed down from time to time, its driving force has always returned,” Buffett wrote.
“I have yet to see a time when it made sense to make a long-term bet against America. And I highly doubt that any reader of this letter will have a different experience in the future.”
Berkshire also bought back $7.9 billion of its own stock in 2022, signaling confidence that it was undervalued. Buffett defended buybacks, a goal of politicians in Washington.
The letter was accompanied by Berkshire’s year-end results, including a record operating profit of $30.8 billion.
Buffett called 2022 a “good year” for Berkshire, with many of its strongest companies enduring the pressures of elevated inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain disruptions.
Berkshire also posted an annual net loss of $22.8 billion, compared with a profit of $89.8 billion in 2021, as prices of Apple Inc AAPL.O and many other stocks in its large investment portfolio fell.
Buffett downplays net results because they are volatile and affected by accounting rules.
Berkshire owns dozens of operating companies including auto insurer Geico, BNSF railroad and well-known consumer brands such as Dairy Queen, Duracell and Fruit of the Loom. It employs more than 382,000 people.
Several observers said Buffett seemed coy, almost apologetic, about his struggles in the markets, even though he is arguably the best-known living American investor. His net worth of $106 billion ranks fifth in the world, says Forbes magazine.
“Buffett is very humble about his own investment ability, and unnecessarily so,” said Thomas Russo, a partner at Gardner Russo & Quinn and a longtime Berkshire investor. “Investors have profited from him for decades.”
Anyone who held onto Berkshire from 1965 to 2022 saw their shares gain 3,787,464% in value. The Standard & Poor’s 500 .SPX rose 24,708% including dividends during that period.
Buffett said most of his capital allocation decisions have been just “so-so,” and Berkshire’s “satisfactory” performance over time was due to just a dozen “really good” decisions.
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“Efficient’ markets exist only in textbooks,” Buffett said. “In truth, tradable stocks and bonds are puzzling, their behavior usually understood only in hindsight.”
Buffett also said that “trust and rules are critical” to running great companies, even amid the inevitable disappointments, and urged investors not to dwell on short-term market conditions.
Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research, said Buffett took a “subtle swipe” at critics who wished he would reveal more about Berkshire’s biggest companies and invest more aggressively.
“The current market climate has been, for lack of a better word, very schizophrenic,” Seifert said. “Buffett expresses that frustration.”
Despite paying $11.5 billion in October for insurer Alleghany Corp, Berkshire ended 2022 with $128.6 billion in cash as it became a big seller of stocks including Taiwanese semiconductor maker TSMC 2330.TW late in the year.
Buffett, a Democrat, appeared in his letter to indirectly criticize President Joe Biden who this month called for a quadrupling of a 1% tax on stock buybacks that became law in his Inflation Reduction Act last August.
While Biden has not called for an end to buybacks, Buffett said those who argue that all buybacks “are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or especially beneficial to CEOs” are “either a financial illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue.”
Bill Smead, a longtime Berkshire investor at Smead Capital Management, said: “He makes fun of people who are trying to add money without adding value.”
Buffett also reminded investors how much Berkshire gives back to the U.S. Treasury, paying $32 billion in federal income taxes over a decade.
“At Berkshire, we hope and expect to pay much more in taxes over the next decade,” Buffett wrote. “We owe the country no less.”
While Berkshire has tapped Vice Chairman Greg Abel, 60, as Buffett’s possible successor as CEO, Buffett used his letter to renew his affection for his friend and business partner Charlie Munger, the 99-year-old Berkshire vice chairman.
He said in early May, both will participate in Berkshire’s annual shareholder weekend, which is known as the “Woodstock for Capitalists” and draws tens of thousands of people to Omaha.
“I never have a phone conversation with Charlie without learning something,” Buffett said. “And while he makes me think, he also makes me laugh.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili, Megan Davies and Diane Craft)