Wells Fargo has been a decisive name that has divided investors. While the fundamentals continue to hold steady, negative headlines and a rock bottom valuation continues to test the patience of investors. It has been interesting to look at what Charlie and Warren have been up to with Wells Fargo during this time.
Q2 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc
Below is a look at the Daily Journal portfolio which is essentially managed by Charlie Munger. While the Daily Journal corporation is not the primary investment vehicle for Munger, it is hard to fathom Charlie not taking his fiduciary duty very seriously at Daily Journal on managing the portfolio.
Source: Dataroma (here)
The thing that caught my eye was just how big the Wells Fargo position is. It is over one half of the portfolio at this point. It is extremely interesting because Charlie has long preached assiduity and it looks like he is practicing it hard. Not a single trade on Wells Fargo since Q4 2013 (as far back as the database at Dataroma goes).
On the other hand at Berkshire, limited by an ownership limit of 10% that would force them to convert to a bank holding company, Warren Buffett has been selling just enough to keep it inside of the 10% ownership rule. While one can speculate on what would his actions if he was not loaded up to 10%, the act of keeping it just below 10% through this tough time for Wells Fargo is an indicator of the confidence that both Warren and Berkshire have on the bank.
Source: Dataroma (here)
Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett did weigh in on the Wells Fargo Issue a couple of months ago after the annual meeting at Omaha. It basically reinforces their faith in the bank while calling out the mistakes.
Some very interesting comments came from Saber Capital recently on Wells Fargo here
While it has been extremely interesting to watch the market react to the accounts scandal and politicians drum it up for headlines, what remains behind is a company that has $1.9 trillion in assets and $1.3 trillion in deposits that is buying back its shares and eating into itself. This year, an estimated 15% of the market cap of Wells Fargo will be distributed either in the form of a dividend or buybacks. Probably, it is not such a bad thing to be limited on growth but to allow the bank to buy itself back cheap on the back of negative headlines. While the headlines have been scary, the assets and the deposits are continuing to hold steady at Wells Fargo!
While time will tell how the next chapter unfolds but as an interested and a vested investor in Wells Fargo, it is tough to ignore the headlines and just watch the fundamentals. Probably time to practice some assiduity.
Article by Beowulf Capital
