Buying a stock is buying a piece of a company, not a ticker.
Context
In a 2025 Xueqiu interview, Duan Yongping repeats Buffett's first lesson: a stock is a piece of a company. The hard part, he says, is understanding the business.
Today's question
If you could not sell for five years, would you still buy the stock you hold today?
o Accounting consequences do not influence our operating or capital-allocation decisions. When acquisition costs are similar, we much prefer to purchase $2 of earnings that is not reportable by us under standard…
Adam Smith:The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VI, Paragraph 126
Adam Smith《The Wealth of Nations》· Book I, Chapter VI · Investing
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. The wood of the forest, the grass of the field, and all the natural fruits of the earth, which, when land was in common, cost the labourer only the trouble of gathering them, come, even to him, to have an additional price fixed upon them. He must then pay for the licence to gather them, and must give up to the landlord a portion of what his labour either collects or produces. This portion, or, what comes to the same thing, the price of this portion, constitutes the rent of land, and in the price of the greater part of commodities, makes a third component part.
Our gain in net worth during 1984 was $152.6 million, or $133 per share. This sounds pretty good but actually it’s mediocre. Economic gains must be evaluated by comparison with the capital that produces them. Our twenty…
o Accounting consequences do not influence our operating or capital-allocation decisions. When acquisition costs are similar, we much prefer to purchase $2 of earnings that is not reportable by us under standard…
21:00 Figures · Investing · Modern investor letters
Warren Buffett:Berkshire 1991 Letter, Excerpt 2
Warren Buffett《Berkshire Hathaway 1991 Letter to Shareholders》· 1991 Chairman's Letter · Investing
Charlie Munger, Berkshire's Vice Chairman, and I have set a goal of attaining a 15% average annual increase in Berkshire's intrinsic value. If our growth in book value is to keep up with a 15% pace, we must earn $22 billion during the next decade. Wish us luck - we'll need it.