Excerpts From A CNBC Post
In his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffett says he did some "dumb things in investments" last year.
Buffett admits that "I made at least one major mistake of commission and several lesser ones that also hurt… Furthermore, I made some errors of omission, sucking my thumb when new facts came in that should have caused me to re-examine my thinking and promptly take action."
The mistake of commission: buying a large amount of Conoco Phillips stock just as energy prices were near their peak. Buffett writes, "I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year." He still thinks oil will eventually go well above its current $40-$50 range, "but so far I have been dead wrong."
Even if energy prices do rise, "the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars."
Buffett also reveals that he spent $244 million for shares of two Irish banks that "appeared cheap" to him. At the end of the year, they were written down to their market price of $27 million, for a loss of 89 percent, and they've continued to drop. "The tennis crowd would call my mistakes 'unforced errors.'"
But he says he's not bothered by the overall "significant decline" in Berkshire's portfolio. "We enjoy such price declines if we have funds available to increase our positions."
"By year end, investors of all stripes were bloodied and confused, much as if they were small birds that had strayed into a badminton game."