* Berkshire adding to holdings of 2 stocks – CNBC
* Still buying despite Europe woes – Buffett
* Fund manager criticizes annual meeting
By Ben Berkowitz
May 7 (Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway Inc is adding
to its shareholdings of two U.S. companies amid a market dip,
billionaire investor Warren Buffett said on Monday.
Buffett, Berkshire’s controlling shareholder, also forecast
record results this year for Berkshire’s largest non-insurance
businesses, among them the railroad BNSF and the utility
MidAmerican.
In an interview on cable television network CNBC from just
outside his conglomerate’s home base in Omaha, Nebraska, he
dismissed the dip in European shares after weekend elections in
France and Greece.
“It’s going to be very, very difficult to resolve their
problems,” he said of the euro zone countries, but he insisted
they would do so eventually.
Buffett declined to identify the two portfolio stocks
Berkshire was purchasing more of. He said Berkshire spent $60
million buying stocks last Friday and would buy more today. It
was not clear if the $60 mil lion was spent on just two stocks.
Over the weekend, Berkshire held its annual shareholder
meeting in Omaha, a festival-like event that draws nearly 40,000
people for an hours-long question-and-answer session with
Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger.
It was during that session that Buffett revealed he had very
nearly made an acquisition of more than $22 billion recently,
which would have been one of his biggest ever.
The 81-year-old Buffett, recently diagnosed with early-stage
prostate cancer, spent much of the day assuring shareholders he
was in good health.
While Buffett has his acolytes, not everyone was impressed
with his performance. Australian hedge fund manager John
Hempton, in a post on his blog on Saturday, said the day was
full of the usual questions on politics, economics and the like.
“I got all this — and for the most part I got the usual
homily answers. (The same questions were asked last year and the
year before and the year before that. Answers can be got from
meeting notes),” Hempton wrote.
During the CNBC interview, Buffett reiterated his support
for Wal-Mart Stores Inc, saying a scandal over bribe
payments in Mexico did not change his opinion of the stock. He
is Wal-Mart’s fifth-largest shareholder.
