As a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder since 2002, I have some comments to share that from a NZ perspective, does not match well.
@Valuegrowth: Buffett is very clear about the problems of mark to market accounting disclosures and the problems of EBITDA reporting. GAAP accounting rules will never show the full extent of the company's operation. So you can basically throw out the window all those PE ratios from year to year.
The metric investors need to understand is stop listening to financial advisors. In NZ they work for the financial markets and are bound by the FMA. They only do the easy route by just doing what Charlie Munger says "Di-Worse-sification" - and that is is mimic the index ETF returns. Buffett himself have been critical of the problems that retail investors face in industry and in NZ, the gaming of commissions and mgt fees is utter horrible compared to managed funds in N. America. He shares his comments here (by far the most important 12 minutes any person in NZ should watch it entirely if they want to understand the problem with managed funds trying to beat the market):
https://youtu.be/xp9KUCel778
The 2nd most critical aspect in NZ is we have a problem with taxation. Under Kiwi Saver the minute you choose to buy shares abroad such as the ones listed in the NYSE/Nasdaq, then you're subjected to taxing of paper gains under FIF. No one has been more critical about preserving compound gains than the father of ETF investing, the founder of Vanguard Funds, Jack Bogel (RIP):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aegXd0Q1CI
He refers the term "Financial Intermediation" meaning the loss investors face through all sorts of inefficiencies, management fees, and ultimately in NZ's case - IRD's FIF taxation. So if the average market return is 8% but Kiwi Saver investors are only seeing 6% (because 2% of it is loss through this Financial Intermediation), over the LONG term (and he's cited a 50 year time frame), the investor
only sees about 30% of the total gain compared to the portfolio that compounds at 8%. Now one can argue that the employer matching of 3% contributions will negate these losses, my argument is that this 3% matching is pretty much loss through mgt fees and taxation ; simply a transfer to what Buffett says, 'the helpers'.
Now I have to look when was the last time I purchased BRKA:
Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 7:55 a.m
TD Ameritrade, Inc. Courtesy Fill Notification
For your order to buy 1 share of BRK A at 103000 limit, good for today:
You bought 1 share of BRK A at $102864 on 08/19/2011.
As a matter of interest, my portfolio is held under NON-NZ residence status under joint with my father who resides abroad.