Warren Buffett’s Worst Performing Stocks
Mike is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
It's hard to ever be down on the Oracle of Omaha but the guy is still human...I think. Some of Buffett’s stocks have experienced rough waters over the past year, but are they ready to turn around? Maybe these are just short-term glitches and since his favorite holding period is forever they have time to recover.
Following a series of recalls and refusing to sell Opel to Volkswagen, General Motors (NYSE: GM) has experienced some downturns and are sitting not so pretty at -34.20% for the past year. Dropping 17% from Buffett’s average purchase price, we can only wonder when GM will pick up for Warren. It is certainly a company to research further now that it is on sale for Buffett's price.
Investing in The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) also proved to be a rough go for Buffett and his follow shareholders. Following their sale of its Alcentra unit, BNY Mellon saw a large drop in their share value. However, following the purchase of Penson Worldwide's Australian operation, stock value started to increase once again … but not enough to leave them in the green for the past year. Currently sitting at -14% for the year with a change from Buffett's average purchase price of -13%, these guys are still struggling to ride the waves to their full advantage.
Much like BNY Mellon, Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) have had lots of ups and downs the past year, but still find themselves in the red. After turfing about 10% of their non-manufacturing jobs and selling off Pringles to the Kellogg Company, Procter & Gamble have been on an almost steady decline since April. The stock has dropped 5.59% for the past year. Since this is a classic Buffett franchise with a massive moat, will Buffett start buying more?
Of course, even top-notch investors like Warren Buffet can experience a loss once in a while. The big point to remember is that one year is long term for Wall Street but short term for Buffett and his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B). Berkshire holds many companies with great economics that they will never sell. Berkshire owns entire companies like See's Candy that have enormous "share of mind," as Buffett puts it, so why would they sell? So if a great Buffett company falls in a year and Buffett isn't selling, is it a time to for individual investors to buy? It might just be a sale.
mthiessen has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. mthiessen runs a partnership that invests in public and private companies. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. If you have questions about this post or the Fool’s blog network, click here for information.
