My presentation at VALUEx on Berkshire Hathaway's intrinsic value, Ukraine, obesity, and anorexia; Rosie's bark-mitzvah

Like all attendees at Guy Spier's VALUEx conference in Klosters, Switzerland last week, I gave a five-minute presentation...

But unlike anyone else, I managed to squeeze in 24 slides on four topics: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)... generators for Ukraine... the obesity epidemic and the miraculous new weight-loss drugs... and the epidemic of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders among teenagers. Here's a link to my slides, and below are the highlights...

1) I think Berkshire Hathaway is 15% undervalued based on my updated calculation of its intrinsic value, using the same valuation methodology I've been applying – with a high degree of accuracy – for more than two decades:

At a 15% discount, Berkshire isn't a screaming, pound-the-table buy – as it has been a few times in the past two decades when it's briefly traded at a discount of up to 50% – but it should outperform the S&P 500 by a few percentage points annually over the next five years, which would likely beat 95% of active money managers.

2) Warren Buffett's son Howard Buffett has donated roughly $100 million from his foundation to support Ukraine, which makes his father very proud.

Much of it has been used to buy generators, which are the highest return-on-investment charitable donations I've ever seen:

At the other end of the electric spectrum, there's also an urgent need for small power banks:

3) When I last attended and presented at VALUEx five years ago, my presentation on "the five calamities that can destroy your life – and how to avoid them," which focused on marriage (both how to marry the right person – the 12 questions to ask before you marry someone – and how to maintain a healthy marriage), was scheduled for seven minutes but ended up going on for nearly two hours, stretching past midnight – and later became the basis for my book, The Art of Playing Defense: How to Get Ahead By Not Falling Behind.

This time I decided to focus on another calamity:

There are many ways your body can break down, but two big ones are gaining or losing a lot of weight (i.e., obesity and anorexia). The former is a global epidemic:

Fortunately, however, there are new weight-loss drugs, which are producing results that are nothing short of miraculous among a half-dozen of my friends:

Just look at the effect on Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk since last summer:

This recent article in the New York Times, Ozempic Can Cause Major Weight Loss. What Happens if You Stop Taking It?, bashes Novo Nordisk's (NVO) weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, highlighting their side effects and the regained weight from some people who go off them, without even mentioning the far superior drug six of my friends are on (and achieving miraculous results with), Eli Lilly's (LLY) Mounjaro, which has fewer side effects (not one of my friends is experiencing any) and yields greater weight loss (see the chart above).

One of my friends, who has lost 25 pounds in less than three months on Mounjaro, adds: "I am doing exercise and watching my diet. What the article doesn't say is how it is easier to stay skinny from being skinny versus from being fat."

4) If you are (or plan to be) the parent of a youth aged 12 to 25, you need to be aware that there's also a global epidemic of anxiety and depression among young people:

Among this age cohort (and only this age cohort), even prior to the pandemic (which by all accounts made things much worse), major depressive episodes doubled and suicide rates rose sharply as well:

Researchers debate the causes, but I believe a major contributor is the introduction of the iPhone (in 2007) and other smartphones, followed by the rise of social media like Instagram. Just look at the dates in the charts above – the timing can't be a coincidence...

Lastly, this slide shows that teenage girls are particularly at risk for major depressive episodes and disordered eating:

5) Other than getting married and having children, the best decision Susan and I ever made was getting Rosie the Wonder Dog, who turns 13 today (her bark-mitzvah!). She has brought so much joy into our lives!

Best regards,

Whitney

P.S. I welcome your feedback at WTDfeedback@empirefinancialresearch.com.