Warren Buffett tries to justify his hypocrisy

Shameful.

“I sold it too soon. But, I bought it even sooner, so,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick in an interview Tuesday on “Squawk Box” .

Apple remains Berkshire Hathaway’s largest holding even after the conglomerate trimmed its stake to $61.96 billion at the end of last year, according to InsiderScore.

However, Buffett said Tuesday that he would continue to add to the position if it gets cheaper. He said the iPhone maker is not yet attractive even after falling more than 14% off its recent high, and dropping more than 6% this month. That’s amid turmoil in the broader market, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite in a correction.

“I’m very happy to have it be our largest holding,” Buffett said. “I was not happy to have it be as large as almost everything else combined.”

“It’s not impossible that Apple would get to a price, we would buy a lot of it,” he added. “But not in this market.”

Buffett said the firm has made more than $100 billion in the stock pretax, and was favorable in his comments regarding Tim Cook’s leadership of the firm over Steve Jobs.

“Tim Cook has done better with the hand. Steve Jobs — he couldn’t have done what Steve Jobs did — but Steve Jobs handed him a hand that Steve would not have done as well,” Buffett said.

“Tim was a fantastic manager, and he’s a good guy, and somehow he gets along with everybody in the world,” he added. “That’s a technique I wouldn’t have, for example, certainly my partner, Charlie Munger, wouldn’t have had it.”

Source: CNBC

NB: Warren Buffett said he sold Apple stock too soon but clarified he has no actual regrets. Buffett said it is better than any business Berkshire owns outright including its railroad, which is worth more in dollar terms but earns nowhere near the return on capital that Apple does. He also said his railroad might last longer than Apple.

He said if Apple ever got cheap enough, he would buy a lot more of it. He owned a lot more of it priced a lot lower than what he would have to buy it back at. Complete nonsense.

Also Warren Buffett:

Quote: “Our favorite holding period is forever”. Action: Trade Apple to realize gain.

Quote: “Price is what you pay, value is what you get”. Action: Trade Apple to make $100 billion pretax, mention that price determines decision.

Quote: “At a healthy business, cash is sometimes thought of as something to be minimized as an unproductive asset that acts as a drag on such markers as return on equity” Action: Sell Apple and other equities and move $300 billion into unproductive cash.

Quote: “Investors, of course, can, by their own behavior, make stock ownership highly risky. And many do. Active trading, attempts to ‘time’ market movements…” Action: time decision to trade Apple for cash on the basis of price, tax and market conditions.

Quote: Apple is “probably the best business I know in the world,” “we like to own businesses not stocks”. Action: Convert Apple ownership into cash.

Quote: “I’d love to own 100 percent” of Apple. Action: Sell 60% of Apple holdings.

Quote: “I don’t think of Apple as a stock. I think of it as our third business” Action: Sell Apple, move into unproductive asset cash.

Quote: “I sold Apple too soon”. Action: Also say that you don’t regret it.

Actions speak louder than words. The results will be felt by his shareholders.