Berkshire Hathaway 's Warren Buffett is a value investor, right? Everyone knows that!
Well don't tell that to Gerald Martin and John Puthenpurackal of American University and UNLV. In 2008, the two completed what they call "the first rigorous examination of Berkshire Hathaway's investment performance" -- a paper that analyzed not only Buffett's superior investment performance, but also looked at his investing style.
Besides concluding that Buffett's superior investment returns since 1976 were more than just luck -- as if we didn't know that already! -- Martin and Puthenpurackal concluded that Warren Buffett is ... wait for it ... a large-cap growth investor.
The definition of growth that the researchers used was one that separates value and growth stocks based on the inverse of book value multiples and classifies value stocks as those with the highest book-to-market ratio and pegs those with the lowest as growth stocks. According to the paper, growth stocks accounted for more than 40% of Berkshire's investments, while true value picks made up less than 20% of Buffett's buys.
But let's not get too crazy here. After all, Buffett is still very much a value investor by his own definition; that is, he only buys stocks that offer a discount to the company's intrinsic value. But what this study does suggest is that if we're looking for Buffett-esque stocks, our best bet is to look for high-quality companies rather than rummage through the bargain bin.
To track down some stocks that might fit the bill, I've enlisted the help of The Motley Fool's CAPS community and its stock screener. I focused my search on stocks that are returning 10% or more on their equity, are trading above book value, and are highly rated by the CAPS community members. (You can run the same screen by clicking here.)
Company
TTM Return on Equity
Book Value Multiple
CAPS Rating
(out of 5)
General Electric (NYSE: GE)
15.3%
1.1
****
Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO)
20.1%
2.8
****
Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU)
25.2%
5.0
*****
PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) Continued... |