Kass: What a Piece of Work Is Buffett!
This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney Silver on May 6 at 7:48 a.m. EDT.
"But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue." -- Hamlet, William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Warren Buffett -- our sometime brother, now our Oracle -- doth protest too much methinks in his statement during the
Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.A) - Get Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class A Report
Annual Shareholders' Meeting, in which he remarked that
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Wells Fargo & Company Report
did not need more capital. According to the
, Wells Fargo actually does need more capital.
Warren Buffett's comments regarding the limited capital needs of Wells Fargo over the weekend -- he said he did his own stress test -- helped to fuel a remarkable surge in Wells Fargo's shares, in bank stocks and in the market on Monday.
It is my view that, in part, the response to Buffett "talking his book" is contributing to a short-term topping process. As I have mentioned in The Edge (my exclusive
trading diary) over the past coupe of days, investors should begin repositioning their portfolios with more cash and less flash, as, faster than Superman, greed has now replaced fear.
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As Grandma Koufax would say -- or was it Marcellus? -- "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" when investors respond to the Oracle's remarks by taking up bank stocks by over 15%, as was the case on Monday.
"My honored lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you." -- Polonius, William Shakespeare's Hamlet
At best, Warren Buffet's remarks were disingenuous.
At worst, as Ophelia related in Act III, Scene I in William Shakespeare's
Hamlet
, "O! What a noble mind is here o'erthrown!"
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar, Warren.
Doug Kass writes daily for
RealMoney Silver
, a premium bundle service from TheStreet.com. For a free trial to
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and exclusive access to Mr. Kass's daily trading diary, please click here.
Know what you own: Berkshire Hathaway holds large stakes in stocks such as Wesco Financial (WSC) - Get WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. Class A Report, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) , Moody's (MCO) - Get Moody's Corporation Report, Washington Post (WPO) and USG Corporation (USG) .
At the time of publication, Kass and/or his funds were long Berkshire Hathaway, although holdings can change at any time.
Doug Kass is founder and president of Seabreeze Partners Management, Inc., and the general partner and investment manager of Seabreeze Partners Short LP and Seabreeze Partners Long/Short LP.
