Arbitrage is Warren's secret for producing great results

Professors Gerald Martin and John Puthenpurackal's studied the stock portfolio's performance from 1980 to 2003 of Berkshire Hathaway.

Their findings:

• Portfolio's 261 investments had an average annualised rate of return of 39.3%.
• 59 of those 261 investments were identified as arbitrage deals.
• Those 59 arbitrage deals produced an average annualised rate of return of 81.28%!

Their study brought to light the powerful influence that Warren's arbitrage operations had on Berkshire's stock portfolio's entire performance.

If those Warren's 59 arbitrage investments for that period were cut out from the portfolio, the average annualised return for Berkshire's stock portfolio drops from 39.38% to 26.96%.

In 1987, the S&P 500 delivered a 5% return, while Warren's arbitrage activities earned an amazing 90% that year.

Arbitrage is Warren's secret for producing great results when the rest of the stock market is having a down year.

Certainty of the deal being completed is everything.  The high probability of the event happening creates the rare situation in which Warren is willing to use leverage to help boost his performance in these investments to unheard-of numbers.

Terms: Arbitrage,  Leverage, Compounding