Value Investing Congress Presentation-Tilson-10!1!12
Value Investing Congress Presentation-Tilson-10!1!12
com
Join us for the 8th Annual Spring Value Investing Congress in Las Vegas!
T2 Partners Management L.P. Manages Hedge Funds and Mutual Funds and is a Registered Investment Advisor
The General Motors Building 767 Fifth Avenue, 18th Floor New York, NY 10153
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Disclaimer
THIS PRESENTATION IS FOR INFORMATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO CONSTITUTE INVESTMENT ADVICE. NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN SHALL CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION, RECOMMENDATION OR ENDORSEMENT TO BUY OR SELL ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL INSTRUMENT.
INVESTMENT FUNDS MANAGED BY WHITNEY TILSON HAVE POSITIONS IN MANY OF THE COMPANIES DISCUSSED HEREIN. HE HAS NO OBLIGATION TO UPDATE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN AND MAY MAKE INVESTMENT DECISIONS THAT ARE INCONSISTENT WITH THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS PRESENTATION.
WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR TIMELINESS OF THE INFORMATION, TEXT, GRAPHICS OR OTHER ITEMS CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL LIABILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN, OR THE MISUSE OR MISINTERPRETATION OF, ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS AND FUTURE RETURNS ARE NOT GUARANTEED.
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2.0% 1.3%
0
Q1 '07 Q2 '07 Q3 '07 Q4 '07 Q1 '08 Q2 '08 Q3 '08 Q4 '08 Q1 '09 Q2 '09 Q3 '09 Q4 '09 Q1 '10 Q2 '10 Q3 '10 Q4 '10 Q1 '11 Q2 '11 Q3 '11 Q4 '11 Q1 '12 Q2 '12
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-8
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The Great Recession was more severe than previously thought. For Q4 08, the initial estimate was -3.8%; it was then revised to -6.8%; and currently to -8.9%
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160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
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Job Creation Has Been Weak, Though It Has Been Positive for 30 Consecutive Months
400
Change in Nonfarm Payroll Employment (000s)
200
-200
-400
-600
-800
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11%
10%
9%
Unemployment Rate
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
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Job Losses Have Been More Severe Than Any Downturn Since the Great Depression And the Recovery Has Been Weak
3.5% of All Jobs Are Still Missing
1948 1953 1958 1960 1969 1974 1980 1981 1990 2001 2007
0.0%
1981 1990 2001
-1.0%
-2.0%
-3.0% -4.0% -5.0% -6.0% -7.0% 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 Months after pre-recession peak 42 48 54
The four most recent recessions have had the longest recoveries and they are taking longer and longer
2007present
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The U.S. Has Run Deficits Over Much of the Past 40 Years, With the Widest Deficits Since WW II in the Aftermath of The Great Recession
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Household Income Has Stagnated While National Debt Per Household Has Soared
Source: NY Times, The Dangerous Notion That Debt Doesnt Matter, Steven Rattner, 1/20/12.
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Relative to the Last Two Recoveries, Private Non-Residential Investment Has Been Strong, But This Has Been Offset By a Weak Housing Market and Shrinking Government Spending and Jobs
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Summary
I am cautiously optimistic that a tepid economic recovery will continue in the U.S., but with the S&P 500 up more than 16% YTD, the markets have already had a good year so I dont see much upside unless the economy really takes off, which I think is unlikely. And there are a number of factors that could derail the recovery:
1. 2. 3. 4. A turn for the worse in Europe The U.S. housing market turns down The slowdown in China becomes a hard landing A sovereign debt crisis in Japan
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Fund Flows and the Relative Attractiveness of High-Grade Debt vs. High-Grade Stocks
Or: 2) The following four stocks, all of which are rated AAA (the only ones left with this rating), higher than the U.S. government:
Exxon Mobil: dividend yield 2.5%, P/E multiple (2012 est.): 12.0x ADP: 2.7% yield; P/E: 20.7x Microsoft: 3.0% yield; P/E: 10.4x Johnson & Johnson: 3.5% yield; P/E: 13.6x Average yield: 2.9%; average P/E: 14.2x (equal to earnings yield of 7.1%)
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Investors With a Long (10+) Year Time Horizon Are Nuts to Prefer U.S. Treasuries Over Dividend-Paying Blue-Chip Stocks Purchased at Moderate Multiples
It is virtually certain that a well-diversified portfolio of dividend-paying blue-chip stocks purchased at moderate multiples will far outperform 10-Year Treasuries over the next decade
Especially when inflation is taken into consideration Inflation impairs the value of bonds, but not companies with pricing power due to strong competitive moats Especially when the market has been close to flat for more than a decade Total returns over the next decade for stocks should be in the 5-7% range (likely higher for solid companies with rich dividends trading at moderate multiples), as this chart shows:
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Equity Funds Have Steadily Lose Capital Since the Market Peak in 2007
Net New Cash Flow to Equity Funds Related to Global Stock Price Performance
1) Net new cash flow to equity funds is plotted as a six-month moving average. 2) The total return on equities is measured as the year-over-year change in the MSCI All Country World Daily Total Return Index.
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Even the Strong Market Returns in 2012 Havent Reversed the Withdrawals from U.S. Equity Funds
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An Update on Netflix
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We published an 18-page report, Why Were Short Netflix, in December 2010 (when the stock was at $181.65) Two months later, we published a 13-page report, Why We Covered Our Netflix Short (when the stock was at $222.29) In November 2011, we published a 9-page report, Why Were Long Netflix and Short Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (with the stocks at $87.75 and $43.71, respectively) All three reports are available on the web
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The Basics
Stock price: $54.44 Diluted shares outstanding: 58.9 million Market cap: $3.2 billion Net cash: $413 million Enterprise value: $2.8 billion Revenues (TTM): 3.5 billion
YOY growth: 30.1% Sequential growth: 2.2%
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Investment Thesis
Market leader (more than 10x the size of its nearest competitor) in a rapidly growing global business (estimated 30-40% annual growth in steaming video) Lots of talk about competition, but very little is currently detectable Difficult to value the company because it has chosen to forego current profitability to drive growth by investing in: a) more, better streaming content and b) international expansion Enormous optionality on the upside and very cheap on an EV/revenues (0.80) and EV/paid subscriber ($99/sub) basis
In April, Disney and News Corp. bought the 10% of Hulu owned by Providence Equity Partners for $200 million in cash, valuing the business at $2 billion and each of Hulus two million paid subscribers at $1,000
Netflix much higher gross profit margin Netflix much higher marketing spending
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Comparing Netflix to Another Well-Known ConsumerOriented Technology Company a Decade Ago (2)
Netflix has a much stronger balance sheet
Balance Sheet
Assets Current assets: Cash & equivalents & ST invs Current content library, net Inventories Other current assets Total current assets Non-current content library, net Property and equipment, net Other non-current assets Total assets Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Current liabilities: Content liabilities Accounts payable Accrued expenses Deferred revenue Current portion of LT debt & other Total current liabilities Non-current content liabilities LT debt (incl. due to related party) Other non-current liabilities Total liabilities Stockholders' equity: Common stock Additional paid-in capital Accum. other comp. inc. (loss) & other Retained earnings Total stockholders' equity Total liabilities and stockholders' equity Net cash Current ratio Netflix (2011) Co. A (2001) Comment $798 $920 $113 $1,831 $1,047 $136 $55 $3,069 $997 $144 $68 $1,208 $272 $158 $1,638 Netflix is less capital intensive Netflix much higher due to its content library Both companies have strong cash positions
$935 $87 $54 $149 $1,225 $740 $400 $62 $2,426 $0 $219 $1 $423 $643 $3,069 $398 1.49
$445 $305 $88 $84 $921 $2,156 $3,077 $4 $1,463 -$46 -$2,861 -$1,440 $1,637 -$1,243 1.31 Netflix has much lower debt levels
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Company A is Amazon and Its Stock Has Been a 20-Bagger Since the End of 2001
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Customers can leave at any time without penalty, so both companies must continuously improve to deliver a better customer experience Extremely large, global growth opportunities Willing to sacrifice short-term profits for long-term growth Perceived to have no moat but actually have substantial competitive advantages Both have large, deep-pocketed competitors that are bureaucratic and slow-moving Stocks (Netflix today and Amazon in 2001) are widely hated and shorted
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Higher margins, profits, and free cash flow Both companies have large international opportunities, but Id argue that Netflixs are greater
Netflix is just starting to expand overseas; last quarter, international was 7% of sales vs. 43% at Amazon
Both companies have scale advantages, but Id argue that Netflixs are greater
More paid subscribers allows Netflix to pay for more, higher-quality content, which in turn attracts more subscribers, etc.
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Netflix Summary
I dont think its likely that Netflix is going to be a 20-bagger (like Amazon) in the next decade But if theres a 10% chance of a 10-bagger, the expected value of this one scenario justifies the entire price today I like investments in which I think my downside is limited and there are numerous multi-bagger upside scenarios But there is a wide range of expected outcomes, including ones with a substantial, permanent loss of capital, so this should be sized conservatively (3-4% of my portfolio)
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The Basics
Stock price (9/28/12): $132,700 $88.20 for B shares (equivalent to $132,300/A share) Shares outstanding: 1.65 million Market cap: $219 billion Total assets (Q2 12): $411 billion Total equity (Q2 12): $177 billion Book value per share (Q2 12): $107,377 P/B: 1.24x Float (Q2 12): $71.1 billion
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Earnings before taxes* Insurance Group: GEICO General Re Berkshire Reinsurance Group Berkshire H. Primary Group Investment Income Total Insurance Oper. Inc. Non-Insurance Businesses: Burlington Northern Santa Fe Finance and Financial products Marmon McLane Company MidAmerican/Utilities/Energy Other Businesses Total Non-Insur. Oper. Inc. Total Operating Income
Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Q1 09 Q2 09 Q3 09 Q4 09 Q1 10 Q2 10 Q3 10 Q4 10 Q1 11 Q2 11 Q3 11 Q4 11 Q1 12 Q2 12 186 42 29 25 1,089 1,371 298 102 79 81 1,204 1,764 246 54 -166 -8 1,074 1,200 186 144 1,280 112 1,529 3,251 148 -16 177 4 1,354 1,667 111 276 -318 29 1,482 1,580 200 186 141 7 1,412 1,946 190 31 250 44 1,211 1,726 299 -39 52 33 1,283 1,628 329 222 117 48 1,494 2,210 289 201 -237 52 1,218 1,523 200 68 244 135 1,150 1,797 337 -326 -1,343 56 1,261 -15 159 132 -354 54 1,404 1,395 114 148 1,375 58 1,038 2,733 -34 190 -392 74 1,022 860 124 81 -191 71 1,052 1,137 155 138 613 51 1,393 2,350
YOY change
68%
476 241 28 73 516 744 1,602 2,973 254 261 68 329 956 1,868 3,632 163 247 68 526 798 1,802 3,002 113 197 67 1,592 516 2,485 5,736 112 162 143 303 206 926 2,593 115 170 66 402 201 954 2,534 119 194 64 441 350 1,168 3,114 307 160 71 382 271 1,191 2,917 111 190 80 395 583 1,835 3,463
* In 2010, Berkshire changed this table from Earnings before income taxes, noncontrolling interests and equity method earnings to Earnings before income taxes, but a breakdown of Q1-Q3 numbers in 2008-2010 isnt available, so we use the old numbers for Q1-Q3 of each year, but to get the Q4 numbers in 2008-2010, we subtract from the full-year numbers, which causes slight anomalies in Q4 08, Q4 09 and Q4 10.
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Year End 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Q2 '12
1. Unlike Buffett, I include a conservative estimate of normalized earnings from Berkshires insurance businesses: half of the $2 billion of annual profit over the past nine years. 2. Historically I believe Buffett used a 12 multiple, but given compressed multiples at the end of 2008, I used an 8 rather than a 12 multiple and to be conservative have continued to use this multiple even as the markets have rebounded. 3. Estimate. 4. Q2 run-rate earnings are approximately $8,000/share plus we add $600/share of insurance earnings.
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$140,000
$120,000
$100,000
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
* Investments per share plus 12x pre-tax earnings per share (excluding all income from investments) through 2007, then an 8x multiple thereafter.
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2. The stock is very cheap based on my estimate of intrinsic value, which does not include any Buffett premium
I simply take investments/share and add the value of the operating businesses, based on a conservative multiple of their normalized earnings The value of the cash and bonds wont change, and Coke, American Express, Burlington Northern, GEICO, etc. will continue to generate robust earnings even after Buffett is no longer running Berkshire
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Conclusion
Cheap stock: 76-cent dollar, giving no value to recent investments and immense optionality Extremely safe: huge cash and other assets provide intrinsic value downside protection, while the new share repurchase program provides downside protection on the stock Strong earnings should eventually act as a catalyst
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The Basics
Stock price (9/28/12): $71.05 Basic shares outstanding: 37.9 million Market cap: $2.7 billion Enterprise value: $3.1 billion Options and warrants: 11.7 million Cash proceeds if all options and warrants are exercised: $573 million Adjusted market cap: $3.5 billion Adjusted enterprise Value: $3.35 billion Adjusted book value per share (6/30/12): $56.96 P/B: 1.25
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World Class Management and Board, With Interests Aligned With Shareholders
Management and board have a wealth of experience and a superb track record in managing, developing and investing in real estate Insiders own close to 50% of stock including warrants Bill Ackman of Pershing Square is Chairman Personal financial commitment: CEO David Weinreb purchased $15 million of warrants; President Grant Herlitz purchased $2 million of warrants In addition to the GGP distribution, the plan sponsors (Brookfield, Fairholme, Pershing Square, and Blackstone) purchased 5.25 million additional shares for $250 million Major HHC shareholders: Pershing Square (9.4%) and Brookfield (6.4%)
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Strategic Developments
Bridges at Mint Hill Circle T Ranch and Power Center Elk Grove Promenade Summerlin Center Shops Kendall Town Center Alameda Plaza Ala Moana Air Rights AllenTowne Cottonwood Mall West Windsor Fashion Show Air Rights Century Plaza Mall Village at Redlands Redlands Promenade Lakomoor (Volo) Land Maui Ranch Land Nouvelle at Natick Condo
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Site Visits
In July and August, I visited four sites with properties that account for two-thirds of HHCs book value:
1. 2. 3. 4. Summerlin (Las Vegas) The Woodlands (Houston) Ward Centers (Honolulu) South Street Seaport (NYC)
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Residential Com m ercial 5,880 3,797 2 1,164 10,843 891 1,226 200 961 3,278
* In June 2011, Howard Hughes bought the 47.5% of Woodlands that it didnt own for $117.5 million, thereby valuing the entire MPC at $246 million.
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MPC: Summerlin
Located in Las Vegas, Summerlin is a 22,500-acre MPC, by far the largest development site in the city. Currently there are ~40,000 homes occupied by ~100,000 residents. As of 12/31/11, Summerlin had ~5,880 residential acres and 891 commercial acres remaining to be sold.
Master Planned Communities
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MPC: Summerlin
Master Planned Communities
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2007 management estimates = ~$1.6B* Howard Hughes Heirs settlement valuation = $460M
In September 2010, GGP agreed to pay the Hughes heirs $230M, accounting for 50% of the remaining unsold land
DCF approach = $900M to $1,500M Valuation sensitive to discount rate, margin, price, timing and volume assumptions
* Based on management estimate of the total value of MPCs of $3.3B as of 12/31/07 (GGP Q308 operating supplement)
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Exxon is building a new 385-acre corporate campus just south of The Woodlands
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Operating assets
Description Entertainment retail complex and future mixed use development Entertainment retail complex and future mixed use development Retail complex and future major mixed use development Tw o retail properties in The Woodlands Tow n Center Shopping Center Shopping Center Attached to The Waterw ay Sq. Garage in Woodlands Tow n Ctr Retail space and future mixed use development Community Center
Econom ic Property Net book Ow nership Type Sq. ft./Keys % Leased value ($M) 100% Office 218,551 98.8% 59.0 100% Hotel 440 keys 47.8 100% Office 300,000 89.3% 29.5 100% Office 226,000 100.0% 23.6 84% Apartments 393 keys 95.0% 22.0 100% Country Club 36 holes 14.6 100% Office 97,705 100.0% 14.5 50% Apartments 472 keys 94.5% 11.7 100% Office 95,667 98.1% 11.6 1% Retail 5.4 7% Hospital 4.1 100% Office 24,024 100.0% 4.0 50% Title Company 3.6 100% Garage 2,988 spaces 3.3 20% Industrial 132,050 93.0% 2.5 100% Note n.a. Participation Golf 2.3 259.5
Like the MPCs, the operating assets are difficult to value but our analysis indicates that the carrying value significantly understates the true value of these assets
Assets 4 Waterw ay Sq. The Woodlands Resort & Conf. Ctr. Columbia Office Properties 110 N. Wacker (Chicago) Millennium Waterw ay Apartments The Club at Carlton Woods 9303 New Trails Forest View /Timbermill Apartments 1400 Woodloch Forest Head Acquisition (Hexalon) Summerlin Hospital Medical Center 2201 Lake Woodlands Dr. Stew art Title of Montgomery Co. The Woodlands Parking Garages Woodlands Sarofim #1 Ltd. Arizona 2 Office Lease Golf Courses at Summerlin & TPC LV Total
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60 acres located near Waikiki, Hawaii that consists of a shopping district and a 16-screen movie theater Currently has over 1 million square feet of leasable space and generated $21.5 million of NOI in 2011 In 2009, the Hawaii Community Development Authority approved a plan for a residential and commercial development encompassing up to 9.3 million sq. ft., including up to 7.6 million for residential
Operating assets
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Pier 17
Howard Hughes Has Reached a Deal With the NYC Economic Development Corporation to Redevelop Pier 17
Operating assets The new design is spectacular: A concert hall (part enclosed, part open air) on the roof with a bar/restaurant and areas to relax The largest available contiguous retail space in Lower Manhattan Glass walls that can be lowered to enclose the ground level during inclement weather Design creates significantly more leasable area than in the existing building Rents will be significantly higher than the current $68/sq. ft.
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South Street Seaport Will Likely Benefit from Significant Development Occurring Nearby
The Freedom Tower and Ground Zero are a short walk away
A new Gehry-designed apartment building just opened nearby
Operating assets
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There Are Additional Buildings on the Site That Might be Renovated/Redeveloped Over Time
Operating assets
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Property The Shops at Summerlin Centre AllenTow ne Ala Moana Condo Project West Windsor Cottonw ood Mall Circle T Ranch and Pow er Ctr Kendall Tow n Center Bridges at Mint Hill Village at Redlands Elk Grove Promenade Century Plaza Columbia Parcel D Redlands Promenade Alameda Plaza Lakemoor (Volo) Land 3 Waterw ay Square Nouvelle at Natick Maui Ranch Land Fashion Show Air Rights Total
Location
Las Vegas, NV Allen, TX Honolulu, HI Princeton, NJ Holladay, UT Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX Kendall, FL Charlotte, NC Redlands, CA Elk Grove, CA Birmingham, AL Columbia, MD Redlands, CA Pocatello, ID Lakemoor, IL Houston, TX Natick, MA Maui, HI Las Vegas, NV
Similar to the operating assets, but difficult to value We believe that the carrying value clearly understates the value of these assets
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Valuing HHC
The real estate assets owned by HHC are notoriously difficult to value
2010 HHC Chairman Letter
Valuation issues Long-term horizon Uncertainty around housing/real estate market Difficult to use traditional valuation metrics Wide spectrum of possible future outcomes
The best approach is to use multiple valuation methodologies and come up with a range of probable values
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We arrive at a range of values of $67 to $125 per share Attractive risk/reward Multiple free options Downside protection Inflation hedge Non-recourse leverage Opportunity to increase returns by applying appropriate leverage
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* Cash and share count assume sponsor warrants exercised Note: Other liabilities and assets, including $323M tax indemnity receivable from GGP, are not included in NAV calculation
Catalysts
Development announcements Asset/land sales Hidden assets uncovered Housing market begins to recover, especially in Las Vegas More analyst coverage
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Risks
Housing market worsens for an extended period of time Unable to access financing to fund developments Time Execution
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Conclusion
Undervalued, high-quality real estate assets in premier locations Safe: Strong balance sheet and attractive assets provide downside protection Attractive risk/reward with multiple free options World class management team and board, with interests aligned with shareholders
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Earnings of Non-Insurance Businesses Have Soared Thanks to Burlington Northern and the Economic Rebound
Insurance Group: GEICO General Re Berkshire Reinsurance Group Berkshire H. Primary Group Investment Income Total Insurance Oper. Inc. Non-Insurance Businesses: Burlington Northern Santa Fe Finance and Financial products Marmon McLane Company MidAmerican/Utilities/Energy Other Businesses Total Non-Insur. Oper. Inc. Total Operating Income
* In 2010, Berkshire changed this table from Earnings before income taxes, noncontrolling interests and equity method earnings to Earnings before income taxes. Thus, 2008-2011 reflect the new numbers, and all prior years reflect the old ones.
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15
$B
10 5
0
1997 (5) (10)
Acquisitions Net Stock Purchases
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Q1 12
Buffett is doing a good job investing but the cash is coming in so fast! A high-class problem Markets have a way of presenting big opportunities on short notice Chaos in 2008, junk bonds in 2002 Buffett has reduced average maturity of bond portfolio so he can act quickly
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Amount (Bn)
$6.5 $6.5 $5.0
Comment
Q2 event; sold much in Q3 Plus $5B to exercise warrants
$5.7
$4.5
$3.3
$3.0 $3.0 $2.4
Tungaloy
Swiss Re unit ING reinsurance unit Other businesses purchased TOTAL
$1.0
$0.8 $0.4 $3.9 $46.0
Iscar acquisition
Plus sharing agreement
Note: Does not include capital committed to Berkshires new bond insurance business, Berkshire Assurance
Valuing Berkshire
Over the years we'veattempt[ed] to increase our marketable investments in wonderful businesses, while simultaneously trying to buy similar businesses in their entirety. 1995 Annual Letter In our last two annual reports, we furnished you a table that Charlie and I believe is central to estimating Berkshire's intrinsic value. In the updated version of that table, which follows, we trace our two key components of value. The first column lists our per-share ownership of investments (including cash and equivalents) and the second column shows our per-share earnings from Berkshire's operating businesses before taxes and purchase-accounting adjustments, but after all interest and corporate expenses. The second column excludes all dividends, interest and capital gains that we realized from the investments presented in the first column. 1997 Annual Letter
In effect, the columns show what Berkshire would look like were it split into two parts, with one entity holding our investments and the other operating all of our businesses and bearing all corporate costs. 1997 Annual Letter
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Current intrinsic value: $175,500/share Plus 8% growth of intrinsic value of the business Plus cash build over next 12 months: $7,000/share Equals intrinsic value in one year of $196,500 48% above todays price
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Catalysts
Continued earnings growth of operating businesses New equity investments Additional cash build Meaningful share repurchases (if the stock fell to under 1.1x book) Eventually, Berkshire could win back a AAA rating (not likely in the near term) Potential for more meaningful acquisitions and investments
If theres a double-dip recession, this becomes more likely Buffett disclosed at the 2012 annual meeting that Berkshire came very close to consummating a $22 billion acquisition
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Book value per share at the end of Q2 12 was $107,377 ($71.58/B share) Thus, a 10% premium means that Buffett is willing to buy back stock up to $118,114 ($78.74/B share), 11% below todays price
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The Share Repurchase Program Has Significantly Improved the Risk-Reward Equation, So We Bought More Stock
It confirms that Buffett shares our belief that Berkshire stock is deeply undervalued
He wouldnt be buying it back at a 10% premium to book value if he thought its intrinsic value was, say, 20% or even 30% above book Our estimate is $175,500/share, 32% above todays levels
Buffett put a floor on the stock: he was clear in numerous interviews after the program was announced that he is eager to buy back a lot of stock and he has plenty of dry powder to do so:
Berkshire has $36.8 billion of cash (excluding railroads, utilities, energy, finance and financial products), plus another $30.5 billion in bonds (nearly all of which are short-term, cash equivalents), which totals $67.3 billion On top of this, the company generated more than $12.3 billion in free cash flow in 2011 in other words, more than $1 billion/month is pouring into Omaha The press release notes that repurchases will not be made if they would reduce Berkshires consolidated cash equivalent holdings below $20 billion, so that leaves $47 billion to deploy (and growing by more than $1 billion/month), equal to 21% of the companys current market cap
Its unlikely, however, that Buffett would repurchase anything close to this amount, as some of the cash and bonds are held at various insurance subsidiaries, plus Buffett likely wants to keep plenty of dry powder to make acquisitions and investments like the recent $5 billion one into Bank of America
In summary, Buffett could easily buy back $10-20 billion of stock and still have plenty of dry powder for other investments
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Berkshire Stock Outperformed the S&P 500 by 83 Percentage Points in the Year After the Only Other Time Buffett Offered to Buy Back Stock
March 11, 2000 March 11, 2001 Up 72%
Berkshire Hathaway
S&P 500
Down 11%
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Nevertheless, Buffett is irreplaceable and it will be a significant loss when he no longer runs Berkshire for a number of reasons:
There is no investor with Buffetts experience, wisdom and track record, so his successors decisions regarding the purchases of both stocks and entire business might not be as good Most of the 75+ managers of Berkshires operating subsidiaries are wealthy and dont need to work, but nevertheless work extremely hard and almost never leave thanks to Buffetts halo and superb managerial skills. Will this remain the case under his successors? Buffetts reputation is unrivaled so he is offered deals (such as the recent $5 billion investment in BofA) on terms that are not offered to any other investor and might not be offered to his successors Being offered investment opportunities on terms/prices not available to anyone else also applies to buying companies outright. Theres a high degree of prestige in selling ones business to Buffett (above and beyond the advantages of selling to Berkshire). For example, the owners of Iscar could surely have gotten a higher price had they taken the business public or sold it to an LBO firm Buffetts Rolodex is unrivaled, so he gets calls (and can make calls that get returned) that his successors might not
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We think it's wise that Buffett hasn't named his successor for two reasons: 1. It would place enormous pressure and expectations on this person, which is unnecessary and counterproductive; 2. It might be demotivating for the candidates who were not chosen; and 3. Who knows what will happen between now and the time that a successor takes over (which could be more than a decade)?
Maybe the current designee falls ill, leaves Berkshire, performs poorly, or makes a terrible mistake (as Sokol did)? Or what if another candidate (perhaps one of the two backup successors today) performs incredibly well, or Berkshire acquires a business with a fantastic CEO, and Buffett and the board decide that another candidate is better? In either case, Buffett and the board will be able to switch their choice without the second-guessing and media circus that would occur if the successor had been named
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Other Risks
A double-dip recession impacts Berkshires earnings materially No catalyst occurs, so the stock sits there and doesnt go up
Intrinsic value will likely continue to grow nicely
Berkshires stock portfolio declines Losses in the shorter-duration derivatives such as credit-default swaps are larger than expected and/or mark-to-market losses mount among the equity index puts A major super-cat event occurs that costs Berkshire many billions Berkshire is downgraded
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MPC: Bridgeland
Located near Houston, Bridgeland is an 11,400-acre MPC consisting of planned and developed areas. Currently there are ~1,000 homes occupied by ~5,000 residents. As of Dec. 31, 2011, Bridgeland had 18,900 residential lots and 1,200 commercial acres remaining to be sold.
Master Planned Communities
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MPC: Bridgeland
Master Planned Communities
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Landmark Mall
Operating assets
Landmark Mall is a retail complex in Alexandria, Virginia, nine miles from Washington DC It is now zoned for a large scale, mixed-use development of up to 5.5 million sq. ft. Performing a DCF to arrive at a present value of the potential future development, we arrive at $200-400M versus the current carrying value of $24M
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