Takeaways Of Indian Fund Managers From Warren Buffett's Annual Meet

The Berkshire meeting this year covered a lot of ground that had been covered earlier, as is to be expected. However, there were some interesting things discussed. The meeting first covered the economic environment. It was mentioned that a lot of Berkshire subsidiaries are facing subdued demand and elevated inventory levels. They may have to resort to discounting to clear inventory, and earnings are expected to fall. Given the various sectors that Berkshire operates in, this portends a weak earnings outlook for U.S. companies. The other interesting discussion was around the attractiveness or otherwise of banks as investments. It was mentioned that, but for certain regulations in the past, Berkshire would have owned a lot of banks and may not have been big in insurance. Conservatively run banks can be great investments. It is just that some banks have been taking excessive risks. The other observation was around corporate real estate and that the prices may continue to drift lower, causing problems for the lenders as borrowers have been too aggressive and have not had price discipline.