Washington, Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. didn't list Honeywell International Inc. in its holdings at the end of the third quarter, possibly shedding the 2.25-million-share stake as a takeover of Honeywell fell apart.
Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire also left U.S. Bancorp and Office Depot Inc. off of its Schedule 13F quarterly holdings report with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, a sign Buffett's company may have eliminated those stakes as well.
``Mr. Buffett is not a raging bull on the economy,'' said Renee Carret, managing director of Carret & Co. in New York, which manages $1.8 billion and lists Berkshire among its largest holdings. ``Cash is a comforting factor right now.''
Dropping a company from the quarterly list of holdings doesn't always mean Buffett sold the stock. Berkshire sometimes moves stakes onto confidential reports where moves can be concealed for as long as a year.
For example, today's filing said Berkshire's 13.9 million- share stake in Dun & Bradstreet Corp. was moved onto a confidential report.
The filing didn't say the same of Honeywell, Office Depot or U.S. Bancorp, indicating Buffett may have sold those investments, valued at $273.7 million as of the end of the second quarter in a prior filing on Aug. 14.
Honeywell spokesman Tom Crane declined to comment on the Berkshire filing. ``Our outlook hasn't changed since the last time we talked to analysts, in September,'' he said.
Honeywell Stake
A U.S. Bancorp spokesman declined to comment. Officials at Office Depot and Berkshire couldn't be reached.
Berkshire's stake in Morristown, New Jersey-based Honeywell had been valued at $78.5 million as of June 30. Honeywell shares fell 24 percent during the third quarter as European antitrust regulators killed a plan for the biggest maker of automated controls to be bought by General Electric Co. The company's shares have rebounded about 18 percent this quarter, though they fell 50 cents today to $31.20.
The 6.28 million-share stake in Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, the No. 8 U.S. bank, had been valued at $143.2 million, before U.S. Bancorp shares declined 2.7 percent during the third quarter. Its shares, which have fallen 18 percent since the quarter's end, rose 4 cents to $18.24.
Office Depot Stake
Berkshire's 5 million shares of Delray Beach, Florida-based Office Depot, the biggest seller of office products, was valued at $51.9 million at the end of the second quarter. Office Depot shares rose 31 percent during the subsequent quarter and have since gained 10 percent more. The shares rose 18 cents to $14.99.
A smaller stake in auto parts maker Superior Industries International Inc. of Van Nuys, California, also disappeared from Berkshire's list in today's report. Buffett's company had reported holding 105,800 Superior shares, valued as of June 30 at about $4.1 million. That stock rose $1.32 today to $37.86.
In another possible sale, Berkshire's reported stake in Citigroup Inc. fell by 217,551 shares, to 2.7 million shares as of Sept. 30. Citigroup shares, down 4.5 percent since the end of the second quarter, rose 50 cents to $50.45.
Buffett's only reported increase was an addition of 612,300 shares of Jones Apparel Group Inc., bringing the stake in the New York-based women's clothing maker to 8.6 million shares, according to the SEC filing. Jones shares have declined 30 percent since June 30, though today they rose $2.05 to $30.10
Berkshire Class A shares, unchanged today at $68,000, have fallen 4.2 percent this year. Berkshire Class B shares rose $8 on the day to $2,270. |
