STNE Stands Out in Berkshire Hathaway’s Portfolio

StoneCo (STNE) had risen 22.0% today as of 11:10 AM Eastern Time. The company released its earnings yesterday and crushed analysts’ estimates. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) is StoneCo’s second-largest shareholder. Berkshire chairman Warren Buffett, who has an enviable track record of beating the S&P 500 (SPY) over the last five decades, has received criticism over some of Berkshire’s holdings.

Earlier this year, Coca-Cola (KO), part of Berkshire’s portfolio of publicly traded stocks, gave dismal guidance. Kraft Heinz (KHC) also plunged following its earnings release. Berkshire is Kraft Heinz’s biggest shareholder. Along with the earnings miss, Kraft Heinz announced a massive asset writedown and revealed a subpoena it received in October. In a CNBC interview, Buffett called Kraft Heinz “a wonderful business” though admitted that he “was wrong in a couple of ways about Kraft Heinz.” He added, “We overpaid for Kraft.”

Last year, Buffett admitted to missing out on Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG), saying he “made the wrong decisions on Google and Amazon.” Berkshire was Apple’s (AAPL) second-largest shareholder at the end of the fourth quarter. However, Buffett surprised markets by not adding more Apple stock in the fourth quarter despite its price plunging 30%. For more, read Buffett Didn’t Aggressively Buy Stocks in the Q4 Sell-Off and How Warren Buffett’s Investment Philosophy Has Evolved.