Berkshire’s annual meeting is Saturday with Buffett and Munger together again, shares at a record

Warren Buffett will kick off Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting this Saturday riding penetrating, with shares of the conglomerate at a record and its myriad of operating businesses and equity investments primed to benefit from the U.S. curtness reopening from the pandemic.

The event will be held virtually without attendees for a second time because of Covid-19. This year, come what may, the 90-year-old Buffett is taking the meeting to Los Angeles so he can be by 97-year-old Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger’s side conclusively again. Munger resides in Los Angeles and missed the last annual meeting due to travel restrictions. It will be the first leisure that the annual meeting will take place outside of Omaha, Nebraska.

While “Woodstock for Capitalists” desire be missing the capitalists once again, the tone of the meeting may more likely resemble the meetings of old with shareholders clamoring for Buffett’s forecast on the world following an unprecedented year.

“I hope there would be a pretty sharp contrast in the overall demeanor of the peoples at Berkshire,” said Cathy Seifert, a Berkshire analyst at CFRA Research. “Last year, there was a degree of an dismay just because this was an event that was very difficult to price. It was kind of written all over his face. This annual caucus, the tone from an underlying operational perspective should be more relaxed.”

(You can view last year’s annual assembly and the others at the Warren Buffett Archive.)

Berkshire’s other vice chairmen, Ajit Jain and Greg Abel, at ones desire also be on hand to answer questions during the 3½-hour event. Berkshire’s B shares were up more than 1% on the week, reporting their 12-month gain to more than 47%.

Here are some of the big topics shareholders will want answers on:

• Airlines: His meditations on the industry after revealing at last year’s meeting he sold his entire stake (with the shares then later on roaring back)
• Deploying the $138 billion cash pile: Why he’s been buying back a record amount of Berkshire’s sell instead of making one large acquisition and what his plan is going forward
• Market outlook: His thoughts on the stock buy’s overall valuation following the pandemic comeback
• Bubbles?: Cryptocurrencies and the other possible market manias that enjoy popped up amid the huge rush of retail investors into markets
• Life after Buffett and Munger: Berkshire’s flow plan

At the last annual meeting, Buffett revealed Berkshire sold the entirety of its equity status in the U.S. airline industry. This included stakes in United, American, Southwest and Delta Air Lines, which were quality north of $4 billion combined.

“The world has changed for the airlines. And I don’t know how it’s changed and I hope it corrects itself in a reasonably on time way,” Buffett said at the time. “I don’t know if Americans have now changed their habits or will change their costumes because of the extended period.”

The sale conveyed a pessimistic view on the industry from the legendary buy-and-hold investor. Multifarious Buffett watchers were left disappointed, however, as shares of those carriers soon embarked on an epic reflex, rallying triple digits from 2020 lows. Even former President Donald Trump weighed in on the vocation back then, saying that Buffett has been right “his whole life” but made a mistake selling airlines.

“He effect acknowledge that the velocity of this recovery was greater than anticipated,” CFRA’s Seifert said. “The airline disposal may acquire been a function of their belief that what’s going on in the airline industry may be secular and not cyclical. That’s the one superior distinction that investors may want him to make.”

While airline stocks have rebounded drastically over the days of old year, many argue that the industry may have indeed changed fundamentally due to the economic fallout and the road to a altogether recovery remains bumpy. United Airlines said this month that business and international travel advance is still far off even as the economy continues to reopen.

“He may still be right about the airline industry with travel become public back slowly and there being too many planes,” Edward Jones analyst James Shanahan said. “Arguably he could quietly be right about that, but he’s certainly wrong on the stocks.”

Berkshire bought back a record of $24.7 billion in its own stakes last year. Buffett also did some bargain-hunting amid the market comeback, taking sizable positions in big dividend payers Chevron and Verizon. 

Apple was suppress the conglomerate’s biggest common stock investment as of the end of 2020. Buffett’s conglomerate also appeared to dial back its imperilment to financials. Berkshire exited its JPMorgan Chase and PNC Financial positions at the end of last year, while cutting the Wells Fargo palisade was cut by nearly 60%.

“When you think about the legacy of Berkshire Hathaway and all the operating businesses, including railroads, manufacturing, retail, utilities, it’s all old thrift type companies,” Shanahan said. “The way the portfolio is comprised now after the selling of airline stocks and selling of the financial shares, together with huge performance in Apple, it looks a lot more new economy now.”

Shanahan estimated that Berkshire allow back another $5 billion of its own shares in the first quarter, based on proxy filings.

The conglomerate was even now sitting on a huge cash war chest with more than $138 billion at the end of 2020. Buffett has yet to make the “elephant-sized getting” he’s been touting for years. At last year’s meeting, the legendary investor gave a simple reason for his inaction.

“We receive not done anything because Succession