The�Berkshire Hathaway� (NYSE: BRK-A ) (NYSE: BRK-B ) annual meeting is attended by throngs of Berkshire faithful. For some shareholders at the meeting, it's probably impossible for Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett to�ever be wrong in their eyes. If we're being realistic, though, Buffett does indeed have his slip-ups. As partner-in-crime Charlie Munger put it:
"Just because Warren thought something years ago doesn't make it a law of nature."
With that in mind, I rounded up the team of Fools who attended this year's Berkshire meeting to ask in what ways Buffett disappointed them during the meeting.
Brendan Mathews: Toward the end of the meeting, a shareholder asked about IBM's (NYSE: IBM ) moat. Warren basically sidestepped the question, saying he didn't understand IBM's moat as well as Coca-Cola's (NYSE: KO ) . According to Buffett, He likes IBM's financial policies and thinks it will do well, but he feels more conviction in Coca-Cola, Wrigley, Heinz (NYSE: HNZ ) , and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
Top Warren Buffett Stocks To Own For 2014: Novellus Systems Inc.(NVLS)
Novellus Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company operates in two segments, Semiconductor Group and Industrial Applications Group. The Semiconductor Group segment provides equipment used in wafer processing, advanced wafer-level packaging, and light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturing. Its deposition systems use chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), and electrochemical deposition (ECD) processes to form transistor, capacitor, and interconnect layers in an integrated circuit; and High-Density Plasma CVD (HDP-CVD) and Plasma-Enhanced CVD (PECVD) systems employ chemical plasma to deposit dielectric material within the gaps formed by the etching of aluminum, or as a blanket film that can be etched with patterns for depositing conductive materials into the etched dielectric. This segment?s CVD Tungsten systems are used to deposit co nductive contacts between transistors and interconnects; PVD systems are used to deposit conductive aluminum and copper metal layers by sputtering metal atoms; and Electrofil ECD systems are used for depositing copper to form the conductive wiring on integrated circuits using copper interconnects. The Industrial Applications Group segment provides grinding, lapping, and polishing equipment for fine-surface optimization. It offers products for use in the semiconductor and LED manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, medical, green energy, and glass and ceramics industries, as well as manufacturers of products, such as pumps, transmissions, compressors, and bearings. The company markets its products through direct sales force and manufacturer?s representatives primarily in Europe, the United States, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and southeast Asia. Novellus Systems, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Top Warren Buffett Stocks To Own For 2014: Smiths Group(SMIN.L)
Smiths Group plc engages in the development, manufacture, sale, and support of products and services for the threat and contraband detection, energy, medical devices, communications, and engineered components markets worldwide. The company offers security equipment, including trace detection, millimetre-wave, infrared, biological detection, and diagnostics that detect and identify explosives, narcotics, weapons, chemical agents, biohazards, nuclear and radioactive material, and contraband. It also provides mechanical seals, seal support systems, engineered bearings, power transmission couplings, specialist filtration systems, and other hardware products for the oil and gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, and mining sectors. In addition, the company offers medical devices aligned to specific therapies, primarily airway, pain and temperature management, infusion, needle protection, critical care monitoring, and vascular access. Further, it provides electronic and radio frequency products that connect, protect, and control critical systems for the wireless telecommunications, aerospace, defense, space, medical, rail, test, and industrial markets; and engineered components comprising ducting, hose assemblies, and heating elements that move and heat fluids and gases for the aerospace, medical, industrial, construction, and domestic markets. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
5 Best High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB.N)
Itau Unibanco Holding S.A., incorporated on September 9, 1943, is a bank in Brazil. The Company has four operational segments: Commercial Banking, Itau BBA, Consumer Credit and Corporate and Treasury. Commercial banking, including insurance, pension plan and capitalization products, credit cards, asset management and a variety of credit products and services for individuals, small and middle-market companies). Itau BBA includes corporate and investment banking. Consumer credit includes financial products and services to its non-accountholders. Corporate and treasury includes the results related to the trading activities in its portfolio, trading related to managing currency, interest rate and other market risk factors, gap management and arbitrage opportunities in domestic and foreign markets. It also includes the results associated with financial income from the investment of its excess capital.
On October 24, 2010, Itau Unibanco completed the integration of customer service locations throughout Brazil. In total, 998 branches and 245 customer site branches (CSB) of Unibanco were redesigned and integrated as Itau Unibanco customer service locations, thus creating a network of approximately 4,700 units in the country under the Itau brand. The Company is a financial holding company controlled by Itau Unibanco Participacoes S.A. (IUPAR). As of December 31, 2010, it had a network of 3,747 service branches throughout Brazil. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 913 CSBs throughout Brazil. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 28,844 automated teller machines (ATMs) throughout Brazil.
Commercial banking
The commercial banking segment offers a range of banking services to a diversified base of individuals and companies. Services offered by the commercial banking segment include insurance, pension plan and capitalization products, credit cards, asset management, credit products and customized products and solu tions. The commercial banking segment comprises the special! i! zed areas and products, such as retail banking (individuals); public sector banking; personnalite (banking for high-income individuals); private banking (banking and financial consulting for wealthy individuals); very small business banking; small business banking; middle-market banking; credit cards; real estate financing; asset management; corporate social responsibility fund; securities services for third parties; brokerage, and insurance, private retirement and capitalization products.
The Company�� credit products include personal loans, overdraft protection, payroll loans, vehicles, credit cards, mortgage and agricultural loans, working capital, trade note discount and export. Its investments products include pension plans, mutual funds, time deposits, demand deposit accounts, savings accounts and capitalization plans. Its services include insurance (life, home, credit/cash cards, vehicles, loan protection, among others), exchange, brokerage and others. Its core business is retail banking, which serves individuals with a monthly income below R$7,000. In October 2010, it completed the conversion of branches under the Unibanco brand to the Itau brand and as of December 31, 2010, it had over 15.2 million customers and 4,660 branches and CSBs. Its public sector business operates in all areas of the public sector, including the federal, state and municipal governments (in the executive, legislative and judicial branches). As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 2,300 public sector customers. Itau Personnalite�� focus is delivering financial advisory services by its managers, who understand the specific needs of its higher-income customers; a portfolio of exclusive products and services; special benefits based on the type and length of relationship with the customer, including discounts on various products and services. Itau Personnalite�� customer base reached more than 600,000 individuals as of December 31, 2010. Itau Personnalite customers also have access to Itau Unibanco! ne! twor! k of ! branches and ATMs throughout the country, as well as Internet banking and phone.
Itau Private Bank is a Brazilian bank in the global private banking industry, providing wealth management services to approximately 17,951 Latin American clients as of December 31, 2010. The Company serves its customers��needs for offshore wealth management solutions in major jurisdictions through independent institutions in the United States through Banco Itau Europa International and Itau Europa Securities , in Luxembourg through Banco Itau Europa Luxembourg S.A. , in Switzerland through Banco Itau Suisse , in the Bahamas through BIE Bank & Trust Bahamas and in Cayman through Unicorp Bank & Trust Cayman. As of December 31, 2010, it had over 565 very small business banking offices located throughout Brazil and approximately 2,500 managers working for over 1,235,000 small business customers. Loans to very small businesses totaled R$5,981 million as of December 31, 2010. As of Dece mber 31, 2010, it had 374 small business banking offices located nationwide in Brazil and nearly 2,500 managers who worked for over 525,000 companies. Loans to small businesses totaled R$28,744 million as of December 31, 2010.
As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 115,000 middle-market corporate customers that represented a range of Brazilian companies located in over 83 cities in Brazil. The Company offers a range of financial products and services to middle-market customers, including deposit accounts, investment options, insurance, private retirement plans and credit products. Credit products include investment capital loans, working capital loans, inventory financing, trade financing, foreign currency services, equipment leasing services, letters of credit and guarantees. The Company also carries out financial transactions on behalf of middle-market customers, including interbank transactions, open market transactions and futures, swaps, hedging and arbitrage transactions. It also offers its middle-ma! rket cus!! tomers co! llection services and electronic payment services. The Company is able to provide these services for virtually any kind of payment, including Internet office banking. It charges collection fees and fees for making payments, such as payroll, on behalf of its customers.
The Company is engaged in the Brazilian credit card market. Its subsidiaries, Banco Itaucard S.A. (Banco Itaucard) and Hipercard Banco Multiplo S.A. (Hipercard), offers a range of products to 26 million customers as of December 31, 2010, including both accountholders and non-accountholders. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately R$16,271 million in outstanding real estate loans. As of December 31, 2010, it had total net assets under management of R$291,748 million on behalf of approximately 2.1 million customers. The Company also provides portfolio management services for pension funds, corporations, private bank customers and foreign investors. As of December 31, 2010, it had R$184,496 mill ion of assets under management for pension funds, corporations and private bank customers. As of December 31, 2010, the Company offered and managed about 1,791 mutual funds, which are mostly fixed-income and money market funds. For individual customers, it offered 154 funds to its retail customers and approximately 287 funds to its Itau Personnalite customers. Private banking customers may invest in over 600 funds, including those offered by other institutions. Itau BBA�� capital markets group also provides tailor-made mutual funds to institutional, corporate and private banking customers.
The Company provides securities services in the Brazilian capital markets. Its services also include acting as transfer agent, providing services relating to debentures and promissory notes, custody and control services for mutual funds, pension funds and portfolios, providing trustee services and non-resident investor services, and acting as custodian for depositary receipt programs. The Company also provides brokerage ! services ! to i! nternatio! nal customers through its broker-dealer operations in New York, through its London branch, and through its broker-dealers in Hong Kong and Dubai. Its main lines of insurance are life and casualty (excluding Vida Gerador de Benefucio Livre), extended warranties and property. Its policies are sold through its banking operations, independent local brokers, multinational brokers and other channels. As of December 31, 2010, it had 9.9 million in capitalization products outstanding, representing R$2,620 million in liabilities with assets that function as guarantees of R$2,646 million. The Company distributes these products through its retail network, Itau Personnalite and Itau Uniclass branches, electronic channels and ATMs. These products are sold by its subsidiary, Cia. Itau de Capitalizacao S.A.
Itau BBA
Itau BBA is responsible for its corporate and investment banking activities. As of December 31, 2010, Itau BBA offered a portfolio of products and ser vices to approximately 2,400 companies and conglomerates in Brazil. Itau BBA�� activities range from typical operations of a commercial bank to capital markets operations and advisory services for mergers and acquisitions. As of December 31, 2010, its corporate loan portfolio was R$ 76,584 million. In investment banking, the fixed income department was responsible for the issuance of debentures and promissory notes that totaled R$18,888 million and securitization transactions that amounted to R$4,677 million in Brazil in 2010. In addition, Itau BBA advised 35 merger and acquisition transactions with an aggregate deal volume of R$16,973 million in 2010.
Itau BBA is also active in Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (BNDES) on-lending to finance large-scale projects, aiming at strengthening domestic infrastructure. In consolidated terms, total loans granted by Itau BBA under BNDES on-lending represented more than R$9,010 million in 2010. Itau BB A focuses on the products and initiatives! in the i! nternation! al busine! ss unit, such as structuring long-term, bilateral and syndicated financing, and spot foreign exchange. In addition, in 2010 Itau BBA continued to offer a large number of lines of credit for foreign trade.
Consumer Credit
As of December 31, 2010, its portfolio of vehicle financing, leasing and consortium lending consisted of approximately 3.8 million contracts, of which approximately 71.1% were non-accountholder customers. The personal loan portfolio relating to vehicle financing and leasing reached R$60,254 million in 2010. The Company leased and financed vehicles through 13,706 dealers as of December 31, 2010. Sales are made through computer terminals installed in the dealerships that are connected to its computer network. Redecard S.A. (Redecard) is a multibrand credit card provider in Brazil, also responsible for the capturing, transmission, processing and settlement of credit, debit and benefit card transactions. As of December 31, 2010, the Com pany held approximately 50% interest in Redecard�� capital stock.
The Company competes with Bradesco, Banco do Brasil S.A. (Banco do Brasil), Banco Santander, Caixa Economica Federal (CEF), BNDES, HSBC, Banco Citibank S.A, Banco de Investimentos Credit Suisse (Brasil) S.A., Banco JP Morgan S.A., Banco Morgan Stanley S.A., Banco Merrill Lynch de Investimentos S.A., Banco BTG Pactual S.A., Banco Panamericano S.A, Citibank S.A., Banco GE Capital S.A. and Banco Ibi S.A.
Top Warren Buffett Stocks To Own For 2014: Morgan Stanley China A Share Fund Inc.(CAF)
Morgan Stanley China A Share Fund, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. It is co-managed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management Company. The fund invests in the public equity markets of China. It seeks to invest in the stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund invests in the growth stocks of companies. It employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Morgan Stanley Capital International China A Share Index. Morgan Stanley China A Share Fund, Inc. was formed on July 6, 2006 and is domiciled in the United States.
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