Do Warren Buffett’s words still carry weight on Wall Street?

investmentnews.com:

Hordes of investors flew into Omaha, Nebraska this past weekend, as opposed to their more regular practice of flying over it. The reason, of course, was to attend the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, or what is often referred to as “Woodstock for capitalists.”

Part of the experience for attendees is to get an update from the 93-year-old Berkshire founder and CEO Warren Buffett on his holding company’s overall performance and outlook for its component businesses, both publicly traded and privately held ones.

On that score, Buffett informed his shareholders that first-quarter operating earnings came in at $11.2 billion, versus $8.07 billion for the same period a year earlier. The so-called “Oracle of Omaha” also revealed that the firm’s cash stockpile rose to $189 billion at the end of the first quarter, a new all-time record. Buffett added that “it’s a fair assumption” that its cash hoard will hit $200 billion at end of this quarter.

All that cash is not burning a hole in his pocket, however. Buffett told attendees that he would “love to spend it, but we won’t spend it unless we think we’re doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money.” Instead of going on a shopping spree for other companies, Berkshire bought back about $2.6 billion of its own shares in the first quarter.

Berkshire’s decision to sell some shares of its Apple holdings was the other big news from this portion of the day’s proceedings. The company reported a $135.4 billion stake at the end of March, down from $174.3 billion at the end of the year.

Elsewhere in the portfolio, earnings at Berkshire’s insurance businesses rose $2.6 billion, versus $911 million in the same period last year, primarily thanks to superior