Did Warren Buffett Buy BUD? What if he did not! Back in April, it is widely reported by media that Warren Buffett bought the stocks of Anheuser-Busch (BUD). These reports are based on a news release by Anheuser-Busch entitled "Anheuser-Busch Welcomes Berkshire Hathaway As A Shareholder". Anheuser-Busch (BUD) announced Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A? )"has become a significant shareholder" of Anheuser-Busch, and "Anheuser-Busch welcomes Berkshire Hathaway as a shareholder." Who will not? On the day this news was released, Anheuser-Busch's stock shot up by 6.4% and closed $48.04, although it has set back to $41.8 as of today. As GuruFocus updated its research on the stock purchases/sales of Warren Buffett, Anheuser-Busch did not show up in Berkshire Hathaway's second quarter 13F filings. At GuruFocus, we feel that it is our responsibility to verify whether indeed Buffett bought Bud? We contacted Anheuser-Busch to confirm its news, this is the answer we got from Anheuser-Busch's investor relations: "Anheuser-Busch does not have any additional information to report beyond our press release on April 21st, which is posted on our corporate Web site.While Anheuser-Busch has no comment on the securities filings made by Berkshire Hathaway, Anheuser-Busch understands that under some circumstances investment managers are permitted to defer disclosure of investments in their portfolios." Is it possible that Buffett sold Anheuser-Busch between April 21 and June 30? Very unlikely, as we all know that Buffett 's "preferred holding time is forever." Is Buffett intentionally keep this information confidential? Buffett did keep some information confidential, which is related to HR Block (HRB) and Torchmark (TMK) and which we believe that Buffett has sold, as stated in the 13F filing : "Confidential Information has been omitted from the public Form 13F and filed with the Commission. Included in this information is information regarding Berkshire's positions in H&R Block, Inc. and Torchmark Corp. included in its March 31, 2005 public Form 13F." No Anheuser-Busch was mentioned there! Did Warren Buffett buy BUD? Stay tuned. Source: http://www.gurufocus.com/ |
