Comments on: Buffett Sells Moodys, Buys Burlington Santa Fe

By: investorinpa

investorinpa — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:38:27 +0000

The federal government set aside $48 billion of the $787 billion stimulus for infrastructure improvement, some of which goes to railroads. I’m checking to see exactly what cut of the stimulus Burlington Northern gets.

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:50:18 +0000

Has anyone sat down and analised the railroad shares? Buffet is very smart but he is not a genius. Genius requires original thought, Buffet is a fast learner obsessed about making and keeping money. I’d be asking myself what kind of real estate assets does this rail road have? Is there a major strategic advantage this particular railroad has over other railroad stocks? As a class are railroad stocks a good bet? If you believe in peak oil clearly they are a good long term bet. In addition it’s worth remembering that railway lines are a network that connect places. The network can be used for things apart from railway cars. Many things can be placed alongside the tracks including power cables and fiber optic cables.

By: advocatusdiaboli

advocatusdiaboli — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:48:36 +0000

I think he bought both to get in on a good price bump due to the next stimulus spending and to by into a major market share holder in US transportation infrastructure. As for stimulus, maybe Obama is going to craft something like the WPA and BN will get a lot of business hauling a lot of stuff around for the construction boom. But I don’t think he’s a genius–he’s been dead wrong quite a lot lately–the truth is he’s well-connected. And I’ll take that over genius any day.

The popular media are falling all over themselves calling this a bet on America and the recovery–it’s neither. But since they don’t have the Maestro any more, they need their iconic business and economic geniuses and anyone will do. More wetware cognitive dissonance behavior apropos to BR’s earlier blog post on it.

By: madman130

madman130 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:27:30 +0000

Man this Buffet guy is genius or what?

Just like his “investment” in GS and GE with impending Government bailout, he’s putting his money where more Gov bailout is coming for sure.

Genius or just riding the gravy train?

By: GaylaC

GaylaC — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:18:04 +0000

So… if you are an employee, (with a LOT of BNI shares in your 401K) would those shares be either cashed out or exchanged for BRK shares? No more BNI?

By: Mark E Hoffer

Mark E Hoffer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:58:46 +0000

KJ,

“Oligopoly?” — Totally.

By: Mark E Hoffer

Mark E Hoffer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:56:07 +0000

BR,

w.this- Dump the dog, buy the thoroughbred:

• Berkshire Buys Burlington Northern in Buffett’s Biggest Takeover (Bloomberg)

BNI is not NSC

http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=Norfolk+Southern+The+Thoroughbred+of+Transportation
~~ past that, RRs are a good Investment, in general, beyond the fact that we’re ‘under-Railroaded’, and the sector has, already, undergone massive consolidation, 44′s ‘Carbon Tax’ will, at the minimum, prove a boon to the RR’s..

By: KJ Foehr

KJ Foehr — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:45:01 +0000

Oligopoly?

from wikipedia,

“it is one of four remaining transcontinental railroads, and one of the largest freight railroad networks, in North America. Only the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight, is larger in size. The BNSF Railway moves more intermodal freight traffic than any other rail system in the world.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNSF_Railway

By: Mannwich

Mannwich — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:18:56 +0000

Great point, snapshot. Like Warren bought GS and WFC shares right before the big bank bailout, my guess is he knows something about stimulus 2 that is coming. ‘Tis good to be King but clearly the man’s a “genius”.

By: hue

hue — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:15:22 +0000

this is more like buying GE, than GS. Burlington needs to some tarp.

the new American business motto, restock our way to prosperity. we don’t need no stinking consumer.