Chart Talk {05.11.16}

Warren Buffett is in the news a lot this time of year as he usually holds the annual meeting of his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, in late spring while investors have also had the opportunity to read his annual letter.  Here's a five year chart of Berkshire versus the S&P 500.  The chart is from Yahoo Finance and to be fair I don't know if this analysis includes the returns associated with the S&P's dividends.  The S&P has posted an average yield during this time of about 2% a year while Berkshire pays nothing.  Still my back of the envelope calculation thinks that Buffett comes out on top even if you add those dividends back in.  Whether it's a 63% return or a low 80% return when adding in the likely compounding of the index, Berkshire's 135% return handily trounces the market.

*Long ETFs related to the S&P 500 in client and personal accounts.  Berkshire Hathaway is a component of several ETFs we own in client and personal accounts.