巴菲特公布证管信件 力挺卡夫及富国等股票
经过磋商，伯克希尔最终同意在账目中减计所持的赛诺菲、瑞士再保险和合众银行股票的价值，但巴菲特没有减计卡夫和富国银行股票的价值。
在今年1月11日的信件中伯克希尔明确表示，公司相信上述所有五只股票的市价都低于公平值，市场最终会认识到这一点并将在价格上有所体现。(立悟)
Berkshire Wrote Down Stocks After SEC Query
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704559904576228623017513488.html?mod=googlenews_wsjBy ERIK HOLM
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. took an accounting charge to reflect the declines of three stocks in its portfolio after regulators asked about the company's policy for writing down investment losses.
But Berkshire pushed back when securities regulators asked about two of its largest holdings, including its $11.1 billion stake in Wells Fargo & Co., saying it didn't plan to write down losses on those investments.
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway
Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg complained that the current stock prices of all five companies didn't reflect the worth of the shares, and predicted in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission that "each security's market price will grow to at least the intrinsic value that existed" when Berkshire made the investments.
Despite Mr. Hamburg's objection, the company recorded $938 million in impairment charges in the fourth quarter to reflect declines in shares of Swiss Reinsurance Co., U.S. Bancorp and pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis SA.
Mr. Hamburg wrote in January that Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp and Swiss Re "maintained or strengthened their business franchises and capital adequacy" during the financial crisis and "are well managed and positioned for earnings growth into the future."
Sanofi, meanwhile, "possesses a significant economic franchise and potential for continued growth in earnings." But in a follow-up letter to the SEC he said Berkshire would write down Sanofi, Swiss Re and U.S. Bancorp to reflect the regulator's view that accounting rules required the company to take the charge.
The letters were posted on the SEC's website Monday. The charges were disclosed when Berkshire reported year-end results in February, but neither the SEC inquiry nor the stocks being written down were disclosed at the time.
The exchange of letters, which began in December and concluded in February, offers a look at how Mr. Buffett evaluates the stocks in Berkshire's $61.5 billion portfolio. Mr. Buffett, an icon of value investing, has long argued that the market prices of stocks are often at odds with their underlying values, and said he tries to pick investments that the market has underpriced.
In one of the letters, Mr. Hamburg wrote that the SEC's questions about Berkshire's accounting suggested that "at any point in time the quoted market prices reflect future earnings potential and underlying business economics of an issuer of a security."
"Berkshire management," Mr. Hamburg wrote, "does not believe that the validity of the efficient market hypothesis as suggested by the Commission can either be proven or disproven. Information made available by the issuer of a security including current results and expectations regarding the future will likely be interpreted differently by individual investors."
Berkshire also told the SEC it wouldn't write down its $413 million in unrealized losses in Wells Fargo or a smaller loss on its investment in Kraft Foods Inc. The two companies are among the largest holdings in Berkshire's stock portfolio.
The Wells Fargo losses, Mr. Hamburg wrote, were on shares that were purchased in recent years. The losses were more than offset by $3.52 billion in gains on a larger chunk of Wells Fargo stock it had purchased earlier.
Kraft, meanwhile, was likely to report improving financial results, he said. Shares of the company rose in 2010, and Mr. Hamburg said Berkshire believed the value of the stock could rise to a level above what it paid "in a relatively short period of time."
Mr. Hamburg told the SEC Berkshire would reassess its decision not to write down Kraft and Wells Fargo if the stakes continued to be impaired at the end of the first quarter.
Write to Erik Holm at erik.holm@dowjones.com
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