Buffett, Google spend $2.2 billion on wind and solar projects in December (Mining)
Like Warren Buffett who made a big investment in renewables just before the holidays, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced its own $200 million equity investment in a west Texas wind farm on Wednesday. “In late December, while most of us were busy wrapping presents, our Treasury team was tying a bow on our most recent renewable energy deal: an approximately $200 million equity investment in a wind farm in west Texas that generates enough energy to power more than 60,000 average U.S. homes,” wrote Google on its blog.
Solar companies heard some good news recently, as Warren Buffett just demonstrated his confidence in the industry with a power plant buy. MidAmerican Solar, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) bought the Antelope Valley Solar Plants from SunPower, reported Chris Clarke at KCET. Warren Buffett definitely knows how to find bargains, but investors in the solar power business have been burned before, so a solar power company needs a good business plan. SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) may have what it takes.
Oil Industry Beats Buffett in Railroad Investments Surge: Energy (BusinessWeek)
North American energy companies are starting to invest more in railroad terminals than the railroads themselves. A group of oil and natural gas pipeline operators led by Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) announced plans just in the past three months to spend about $1 billion on rail depot projects to help move more crude from inland fields to refineries on the coasts. Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, the largest U.S. railroad, spent $400 million on terminals in 2012.
Wall Street warms up to GM’s bullish outlook (TheGlobeAndMail)
Investment guru Warren Buffett likes this stock, formerly one of the world’s most notorious equity market dogs. So does James Grant, founder of an eponymously named U.S. investment newsletter with a big following among the hedge fund crowd. Even our usually dour federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty weighs in with a bullish take. He’s looking for higher prices before unloading the not-so-inconsequential position he oversees. The company? General Motors Co., the auto giant that tumbled into bankruptcy during the financial crisis and suffered the ignominy of being rescued by U.S. and Canadian governments.
Warren Buffett Guarantees Safety of US Banks, But Has 3 Favorites (Forbes)
Warren Buffett appeared on Bloomberg this week personally guarantee the safety of U.S. banks. Though Buffett doubtless has a thorough method for valuing banks, he mentioned three signs in particular of their growing strength coming out of the financial crisis. “The banks will not get this country in trouble, I guarantee it,” he said. “The capital ratios are huge, the excesses on the asset side have been largely cleared out… we own bank shares and I personally own stock in banks… I do not see problems in these things.” …While Buffett has not revealed Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s fourth quarter portfolio yet, his third quarter holdings show just three banks worthy of inclusion in the portfolio: Wells Fargo (WFC), M&T Bank Corp (MTB) and U.S. Bancorp (USB). Together, they have a 22.8% weighting in it.
