Warren Buffet is a brilliant investor, but it does not mean I would blindly follow his investments.  I am a Berkshire Hathaway (manged by Warren) shareholder, so in a sense, I am blindly following him.  But I don’t pay to much attention to the Berkshire stock holdings report, and when do I learn of new Berkshire holdings, I’m certainly not eager to purchase them in my own account.


As of June 30, 2008, Berkshire Hathaway reportedly owned 48 million shares of Moody’s Corporation.  According to the Yahoo Finance profile for Moody’s:

Moody’s Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides credit ratings and related research, data, and analytical tools; quantitative credit risk measures, risk scoring software, and credit portfolio management solutions; and fixed income pricing data and valuation models principally in the United States and Europe

Today, Moody’s reportedly (and finally!) cut its credit ratings on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to just above junk status.  I’m not interested in investing in Moody’s, whose business model is based on providing accurate and timely credit ratings, but who does not cut ratings until after the damage is done.  Moody’s ratings to me are no better then the predictions of the average Wall Street analyst – calling a sell AFTER a huge sell-off and calling a buy AFTER something is overbought.

I’m happy to own Berkshire Hathaway stock, but I’ll stay away from Moody’s!