Morningstar Updates It Berkshire Hathaway Class B Intrinsic Value Estimate

Morningstar Is Getting Closer On Its Intrinsic Value Figure for Berkshire Hathaway

It’s been 1-2 years since we talked about the intrinsic value of Berkshire Hathaway.  The last time I publicly commented in any meaningful way was to say that I thought Morningstar was wrong in its model.  This put me in the interesting position that rarely happens: I thought intrinsic value was higher than the analysts who were publicly writing about it.  Normally, I’m the one exclaiming that the estimates and variables used were too rosy.

Quincy Florida - The Town of Secret Coca-Cola Millionaires

How Quincy, Florida Became a Town of Secret Coca-Cola Millionaires

In the 1920s and 1930s, a banker named Pat Munroe in the small town of Quincy, Florida noticed that even during the depths of the Great Depression, otherwise impoverished people would spend their last nickel to buy a glass of Coca-Cola.  With good returns on capital, and a once-in-a-century valuation so low that the business was trading for less than the cash in the bank, “Mr. Pat”, as he was called, encouraged everyone he knew to buy an ownership stake in the firm.  He would even underwrite bank loans, backed by Coca-Cola stock, for his responsible depositors to encourage people to acquire equity.