Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) owns dozens of well-known businesses as well as a stock portfolio worth about $300 billion.
But over the past few years, the biggest source of frustration among investors hasn’t had anything to do with either of those things
It’s the hundreds of billions of dollars in cash on Berkshire’s balance sheet that is earning low-single-digit returns, while the S&P 500 has gained 15% or more in the typical year. It looks like Berkshire’s new CEO, Greg Abel, is putting some of that to work. Berkshire has announced two major investments in just two days.
And while by themselves, they aren’t likely to be needle-movers, if this pattern continues, it could be a big deal for the company and its investors. Berkshire has invested more than $18 billion in two days A few days ago, we learned that Berkshire Hathaway had agreed to acquire Taylor Morrison (NYSE: TMHC) for $8.5 billion, including the assumption of debt. This is a long-term bet on the U.S. housing market, which, quite frankly, has been agonizingly slow in recent years.