Just caught up on Warren Buffett's final moves before stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of last year, and honestly, there's a lot more going on here than the headlines suggest.



Everyone's talking about how Buffett dumped 75% of Apple over nine quarters leading up to his retirement. We're talking about selling nearly 688 million shares from a position that once represented over 40% of Berkshire's invested assets. The reason? Pretty straightforward—valuation got ridiculous. When Buffett first started buying Apple back in 2016, it was trading at 10-15x earnings. By the time he was stepping away, that multiple had ballooned to 34.5x. Even for a company with loyal customers and a solid buyback program, that math didn't work anymore. Plus, Apple's physical device sales basically stalled for three years while the stock kept climbing. That's the kind of disconnect that makes a disciplined investor like Buffett uncomfortable.

But here's what actually caught my attention: while everyone was focused on the Apple exit, Warren Buffett was quietly accumulating shares of Domino's Pizza for six straight quarters. We're talking about building up a 9.9% stake in the pizza chain. That's a serious position, and it tells you something about where he saw opportunity.

The Domino's story is interesting because it's basically the opposite of Apple. The company went through a major reset in the late 2000s when it admitted its pizza wasn't great and committed to doing better. That transparency worked. Since going public in 2004, the stock is up 6,700% including dividends. More importantly, Domino's has delivered positive same-store sales growth internationally for 32 consecutive years. That's the kind of consistency Buffett respects.

What probably sealed it for him was the valuation. Domino's forward P/E was sitting below 19, which represented a 31% discount to its five-year average. That's the exact type of price dislocation that used to get Warren Buffett excited. The company also has a solid track record with buybacks and dividends, and their latest growth plan leans on AI to improve efficiency in the supply chain.

So in his final quarters running Berkshire, Buffett essentially swapped out an overvalued mega-cap tech stock for a steadier, cheaper consumer business with international growth potential. That move feels pretty intentional to me.
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