Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Zacks Value Investor Highlights: American Airlines, United AiZacks Value Investor Highlights: American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta, Southwest and Union Pacificrlines, Delta, Southwest and Union Pacific

Read MoreHide Full Article

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 11, 2020 – Zacks Value Investor is a podcast hosted weekly by Zacks Stock Strategist Tracey Ryniec. Every week, Tracey will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. To listen to the podcast, click here:

(https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/917993/3-lessons-from-warren-buffetts-airline-stock-fiasco)

3 Lessons from Warren Buffett's Airline Stock Fiasco

Welcome to Episode #189 of the Value Investor Podcast

 

Every week, Tracey Ryniec, the editor of Zacks Value Investor portfolio, shares some of her top value investing tips and stock picks.

In early May, Berkshire Hathaway held its annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, only this year was a bit different as it all had to be done streaming on the Internet due to COVID-19 shelter-in-place and social distancing orders.

That didn’t make it any less interesting. Berkshire’s Chairman, Warren Buffett, talked for nearly 4 hours.

He also revealed a big portfolio move.

Berkshire Hathaway had sold all of its airline stocks. It owned 4 airlines: American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) , United Airlines (UAL - Free Report) , Delta (DAL - Free Report) and Southwest (LUV - Free Report) .

Buffett indicated that they sold for a loss but he decided to get out of the investment due to the length of time for a recovery in the airline industry from COVID-19.

As he stated, “the world has changed.”

Lessons to Learn from Buffett’s Forays in the Airlines Stocks

1.       Learn from past mistakes. Berkshire owned US Airways in the late 80s and early 90s and took a loss. Buffett hated the airlines for several decades, saying they never made money. Should he have listened to his gut over the last few years when he dove in again?

2.       Watch for changes in the underlying business. A company may no longer be the one you originally bought. Buffett indicated that it would take the airlines years to get back to where they were and he didn’t want to be an owner during that time.

3.       Admit your mistakes. Buffett admitted they had gotten caught in a bad investment. That’s why they moved immediately and he made the call to sell everything. Don’t hang out in a bad investment.

If you can’t buy the airlines, what about other transports?

Berkshire owns a railroad already. But there are several publicly traded railroads investors can get exposure.

Union Pacific (UNP - Free Report) covers the western states, including the big California ports. It also has distribution hubs along the Mexico border. It’s trading with a forward P/E of 19.7 and is still paying a dividend.

What else should you know about lessons from Berkshire’s recent stock moves?

Listen to this week’s podcast to find out.

Today's Best Stocks from Zacks

Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%.

This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year.

See their latest picks free >>

Tracey Ryniec is the Value Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. She is also the Editor of the Insider Trader and Value Investor services. You can follow her on twitter at @TraceyRyniec and she also hosts the Zacks Market Edge Podcast on iTunes.

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros.  In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time!  Click here for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.

Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

https://www.zacks.com/performance

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Published in