Warren Buffett has come out of hibernation in March to make some eye-popping deals, sending a clear sign to investors more broadly, says Baird strategist Michael Antonelli.
“Buffett [is] doing Buffett things. I think it reminds me and should remind [everyone] that the world is still spinning. Companies are still planning for the future, and they are still doing the things that make them great companies,” Antonelli said on Yahoo Finance Live.
Indeed, Buffett’s brain appears to be spinning overtime right now.
The 91-year-old billionaire investor revealed Monday that his Berkshire Hathaway will spend $11.6 billion to buy insurance company Alleghany. The deal will expand Buffett’s insurance empire further beyond auto insurance player Geico and reinsurance beast Gen Re (General Reinsurance Corporation).
“Berkshire will be the perfect permanent home for Alleghany, a company that I have closely observed for 60 years,” Buffett said in a statement.
FILE – Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, smiles as he plays bridge following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb, May 5, 2019. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is buying insurance company Alleghany in a deal valued at approximately $11.6 billion a statement reported Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
Alleghany hauled in more than $12 billion in sales last year and $1.1 billion in net earnings.
Shares of Alleghany skyrocketed 25% on the news. The stock was among the top three trending tickers on Yahoo Finance.
While dipping into the insurance space, Buffett has also gone shopping for energy names amid soaring crude oil prices in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Buffett scooped up another 18.1 million shares of Occidental for close to $1 billion last week. The latest purchases come hot on the heels of Berkshire spending $6 billion or so in the prior two weeks to buy up Occidental shares.
Berkshire now owns nearly 14.6% of Occidental Petroleum through his roughly 140 million shares.
“What these deals tell me is that animal spirits are still alive,” Antonelli adds.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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