Why Warren Buffett's stock portfolio may include a secret holding from this sector
Investing.com — A mystery is swirling around Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) following its latest quarterly earnings.
In the build-up to last weekend's announcement, investors were hoping to discover the identity of the investment giant's most recent purchase. But Berkshire and its boss Warren Buffett left them in suspense — the stake did not even warrant a mention in Buffett's closely-watched shareholder letter or Berkshire's full results.
Some analysts have posited that Berkshire and Buffett — one of the most widely-followed and respected voices on Wall Street — may be aiming to keep the stock confidential to prevent it from receiving attention that could impact its share price.
Markets, relying on a handful of clues gleaned from Berkshire disclosures, have instead only been able to speculate on the secret stock. Analysts widely believe that it is in the financial sector, citing in particular a change in the cost basis for Berkshire's investments.
The conglomerate revealed that the cost basis — a marker of the original value of an asset — for its holdings classified as «banks, insurance, and finance» stood at $27.1 billion as of Dec. 31, up from $24.8 billion on Sep. 30 and $23.5 billion on June 30.
Combined, the rise in Berkshire's cost basis for these stocks from June to December is approaching $4 billion. James Shanahan, a senior equity research analyst at Edward Jones, told Investing.com that because federal law currently requires investors who own more than 5% of a company to publicly report the holding, the fact that Berkshire has not revealed the purchase suggests that the nearly-$4 billion increase has yet to surpass that threshold.
«If $4 billion is still less than 5% of the total market capitalization, you
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