Berkshire Hathaway dispose ofed shares of Delta and Southwest last week
Airline stocks are among worst performers amid pandemic
Buffett recently verbalized he wouldn’t sell off his stakes in airlines
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stakes in two airlines as the industry dials an unprecedented decline in travel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to SEC filings , Berkshire Hathaway sold nearly 13 million portions of Delta Airlines (DAL) last Wednesday for around $314 million, and 2.3 million shares of Southwest(LUV) for around $74 million on Thursday.
The sellings were disclosed after U.S. airlines applied for payroll grants from the U.S. government as part of the Cares Act to keep wage-earners on the payroll amid the crisis. Delta and other airlines have warned that they will have to do jumbo layoffs without government assistance as air travel has dwindled due to travel bans. Last week, major carriers put out they were only at 5-15% passenger capacity as most cities are on lockdown and all but essential travel has been precluded.
The sales of these airline stocks by Berkshire Hathaway comes just a few weeks after Warren Buffett chew out tattle oned Yahoo Finance that he wouldn’t be selling his company’s stakes in Southwest and Delta. Berkshire Hathaway still owns 59 million parts of Delta and 51.3 million shares of Southwest Airlines following the sales, according to filings.
Delta, which check inti earnings this Thursday, has already projected that its second quarter revenue would fall 90%. Southwest will detonation earnings on April 23.