Veteran value investor and Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett’s net worth on Thursday shot past that of Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s, as per the latest data from Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
What Happened: With a net worth of $111 billion, Buffett ranked sixth among the world’s richest people and passed Zuckerberg who is currently ranked eight with a $110 billion valuation.
Buffett’s wealth is up $2.39 billion so far this year, making him the only name in the top 10 that has recorded a positive gain in 2022 so far.
Why It Matters: Barring Buffett’s diversified portfolio, the top ten constituents of the billionaires index is mostly tech-heavy. Technology and growth stocks have been down this year amid a rate and inflation related rout.
Buffett, referred to as the Oracle of Omaha, has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970.
See Also: This Warren Buffett-Backed Chinese Automaker Sold More EVs Than Xpeng, Li Auto, Nio Combined In 2021
The 91-year old investor is known for introducing the value investing philosophy to the masses, advocating investing in companies that show robust earnings and long-term growth potential.
Buffett-led Berkshire counts Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC), American Express Co (NYSE: AXP) and Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO) as the top four holdings.
Where Others Stand?: Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk is still the world’s richest person, though his wealth has shrunk by $54.1 billion year-to-date.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos held on to the second spot at $164 billion valuation, despite a $27.8 billion year-to-date fall.
See Also: Warren Buffett Moves Up The Top 10 Billionaires List As Berkshire Hathaway Hits All-Time Highs
Tesla’s Musk had last year joked that Buffett should buy shares in Tesla if he wants to get richer.
Photo: Courtesy of Fortune Live Media via Flickr
Cathie Wood, a Tesla bull who runs Ark Investment Management, has placed large bets on the electric vehicle stock. The popular money managing firm’s flagship ETF, the Ark Innnovation ETF (NYSE: ARKK), through which it owns a large stake in Tesla, has lost over half of its value over the past year.
Price Action: Berkshire Hathaway shares closed 0.5% lower at $461,200 a share on Thursday. The stock is up 32.45% in the past one year.
© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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Investors might have been slightly disappointed to hear Tesla (TSLA) will not be releasing any new models in 2022, but Wedbush’s Daniel Ives believes the growing EV demand coupled with announcements from the earnings call point to a good year ahead for the EV leader.
The company certainly saw out 2021 on a bright note, with each of the headline numbers in the 4Q21 report representing quarterly records.
On the top-line, revenue increased by 65% year-over-year to $17.72 billion, coming in ahead of the Street's $17.1 billion estimate. And on the bottom-line, adj. EPS of $2.54 handsomely beat the Street's $2.36 forecast.
Despite the chip/supply chain issues, and highlighting “more efficiency” at the Shanghai Gigafactory, the “all-important” Automotive GM (gross margins) hit 30.6%, also above the Street's call for 29.2%.
The Street was anticipating $2.32 billion in cash from operations, but Tesla delivered $4.59 billion, which the 5-star analyst says speaks to a company “on a pace to generate significant cash flow over the coming years.” Amounting to new records too, operating profit hit $2.6 billion, and free cash flow came in at $2.8 billion.
Wall Street already knew what happened on the delivery front when earlier this month Tesla disclosed it had made 308,000 deliveries in the quarter vs. the Street’s expectation of 265,000. Ives thinks that were it not for the supply chain/logistics issues, the figure would have been 10% higher.
In any case, despite the lingering supply chain woes, deliveries should push higher in 2022 as churning out higher volume of the current models appears to be one of Musk and Co.’s top priorities. This should be possible with the added capacity from the soon-to-be opened Austin facility – where Musk confirmed on the earnings call that the production ramp has started and said Texas built-Model Ys will include 4680 battery cells, both “key” announcements - and Berlin factory. Ives thinks the new facilities will help Tesla reach a capacity of ~2 million units annually – doubling on the ability to produce approximately 1 million a year at present. In fact, against a supply constrained backdrop, the analyst believes the Austin production news and 4680 update are “potential ‘game changers’" to the Tesla story.
Given all of the above, Ives has high hopes. Along with an Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating, he keeps a $1,400 price target on the stock. This target puts the upside potential at 69%. (To watch Ives’ track record, click here)
Ives’ objective is on the bullish end of the spectrum; the Street’s average target is a more modest $1,072 and change, which is set to yield returns of ~29% over the coming months. All in, the stock’s Moderate Buy consensus rating is based on 15 Buys, 9 Holds and 7 sells. (See Tesla stock forecast on TipRanks)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.