#16 Sold BRK/B

Sold our BRK/B position at $3089. We bought it in the first week of March and earned a 27% return in 2 months. It stinks we have to pay short term gains on the sale, but I have been burned too many times in the past by not selling bc I didn't want to pay Uncle Sam. Berkshire held its annual meeting over the weekend and overall the tone, based on my read of news articles, was cautiously optimistic. The utility and insurance businesses will do fine (but not great) and everything else will be impacted by the economy. When we first bought the shares in March, we noted they were trading at around 1x book value. Now the shares trade closer to 1.4x book value if you consider the price appreciation since March AND Buffett's comments about BV having declined 6% in 1q09. During the 2005-2008 timeframe, BRK traded at an almost 2x P/B value--a reflection of the premium placed on Buffet's expertise. Going forward, sure the stock could go from 1.4x to 2x book value, but we prefer not to hope on multiple expansion to make us money, at least not to 2x when most insurance companies trade below 2x book. Plus, the book/earnings don't appear to be accelerating (again per press reports on Buffett's comments this past weekend). So we are happy to take our gain here and look for other opportunities.