3 ms·
Buffett has invested in Apple. So, there's that. Buffett largely avoided tech because it didn't have a decades long track record. The answer may be "none of th
by graeme 9y ago
Buffett has invested in Apple. So, there's that.
Buffett largely avoided tech because it didn't have a decades long track record. The answer may be "none of the above". It's not to say there are no good returns. Just a big harder to predict, without special knowledge. (Special can be: industry expert)
- Lordarminius 9y agoInstagram, Heroku, Plan Grid, and that YC company involved in shipping - I forget the name...
- syedkarim 9y agoFlexport
- graeme 9y agoThose might be good bets, but they're plainly not Buffet companies. Plan grid is still fundraising. Buffet looks for a decades long track record of profits. Almost none of tech except companies from the 80s or 90s can provide that.
- dirtyaura 9y agoMaybe Intel? I couldn’t easily check their full profit history but it seemed that since early 80s they had only one year without profit - 1986. Intel is in many ways Buffett-style bet currently - long history of profits - Low valuation by the market compared to rest of the tech sector (p/e was 12-14 last year before the hike) - There is pressure from AMD and NVIDIA on the otherhand and Apple (own CPUs) and Google (TPUs) on the otherhand. But Intel still have pretty incredible moats in brand and manufacturing capacity I don’t know enough about the management to say if it matches Buffett’s standards for great management
- tim333 9y agoI think Buffett says consistent profits rather than decades worth. I think he'd like Flexport, maybe when they are a little more established.
- Cyph0n 9y ago> Buffett largely avoided tech because it didn't have a decades long track record. I heard it was because he never really understood the tech behind the companies. He has also stated that he regrets not investing in Amazon early on.
- graeme 9y agoGood point, sloppy omission on my part. Though, I think part of the lack of understanding was that they didn’t understand how to forecast cashflows for tech companies either. Buffett did invest in many (physical product) companies whose technology he didn’t understand - he understood their balance sheets.
- sumedh 9y ago> Buffett largely avoided tech because it didn't have a decades long track record. He has been reading IBM's annual reports for the last 50 years.
- graeme 9y agoAnd he invested in them. So, that’s not exactly a counterexample.