If you are investing correctly, you are learning from those who are wiser than you. One of the best learning opportunities is from observing what very smart people buy each quarter. One of my favorite YouTubers, Joseph Carlson, has a series where he reviews these purchases. So, here are some big investors, a stock they are buying, and my take.

1. Warren Buffett needs no introduction; if you look at annualized gains over the amount of time he has been chugging along, Buffett is the greatest investor of all time, a bonafide savant. While I’m on this, you want to buy into winners in the market, people who would lead great armies 2,000 years ago, and Warren Buffett is one of those people, so go buy BRK.B or BRK.A if you have some spare cheddar. Here is a stock Buffett added for this quarter.

   I hate to hate on Warren Buffett, but his adding 14% to his Chevron position angers me. From a long-term point of view, I believe oil is a doomed industry. I know now is the time to buck the electric trend, and I also know now is the time to point out that there is oil in everything we buy, but I would like to point out that oil is past its peak. Maybe the oil industry will grow for the next few years, but if we are talking about influence and PR, the oil industry is past its peak, and I do not like investing in industries past their peak. I do not buy cigarette companies. I do not buy cable TV companies. I do not buy publishing house companies. If you are buying for the long-term, you want an industry and people you feel confident putting your future into; the oil industry is not that. Also, come on, oil sucks. Buying oil sucks.

2. Bill Ackman is a smart fella, not a fart smella. You may have seen ole’ Bill in the news because he pushed out Claudine Gay, the (former) Dean of Harvard. Not to get too political, but Bill pushed her out because she had that infamous Senate hearing where she basically refused to answer whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s code of conduct. He did not get her removed for that, but instead for plagiarism, and ironically, it was found out that his wife did quite a bit of plagiarism as well, so everyone came out looking like an idiot. Anyway, Bill is a pretty good investor. He has some bad moments, but we all do. Bill manages $11 billy, with 15% annualized, and purchases companies with quite a bit of free cash values. Here is a pick of his I did not like.

   Now, Bill bought a ton of Google in Q3 of last year, which is different than the data I have been using for everyone else, but since he added 99% to his position, I thought I should critique. Out of the “Magnificent Seven,” Google is one of my least favorites. My ranking probably goes Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Tesla. For me, Google (also known as Alphabet) is an inferior company when compared to the four American companies ahead of it in market cap. In my opinion, generative AI will de-monopolize the search industry. I think we really saw these fears in the poor AI presentation from Google last year after the Chat GPT drop. I believe Google knows they are behind in Generative AI right now, and they also know that Generative AI could be disastrous for them. I think people forget that Google is basically at its peak right now. There is very little room left for Google to grow when it comes to search and data. In my opinion, it is only down for Google from here. Yes, their search engine is keeping them safe for now, but there is only so long Helm’s Deep can hold. And Sundar Pichai is an idiot. Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google, and he is not an idiot compared to me; in fact, he is probably a good bit smarter than me, but when your competitors are Zuckerberg, Altman, Nadella, Cook, you have to be the best of the best, and he is not. Google is not where I would want to be.

3. Chris Hohn is a smart, albeit cartoonish-villain-looking, manager. He has $35+ billion under management and 15% annualized. He looks for monopoly companies. Chris Hohn is very, very good, being ranked as literally the best hedge fund last year, so this guy is good.

   I feel like such a jerk always bringing up Microsoft, but EVERY SMART PERSON I KNOW OWNS MICROSOFT. Chris Hohn bought 10,000,000 shares of Microsoft last quarter, a staggering amount. If Chris Hohn is buying Microsoft, you should as well. Genuinely, if you have concerns with Microsoft, please email me at henrybeall07@gmail.com. Microsoft is such a perfect company, so well positioned for the future. I BEG YOU TO BUY.

4. MICHAEL BURRY, THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND. If you do not know Burry, go watch The Big Short. But all you need to know is that this guy made a ton of money off of betting against the US Economy, and he won. Michael Burry goes all in on extremely deep value investing and generally does very well. Michael Burry has lost some of his mystique recently, as he has predicted approximately 20 of the past two recessions, but I do not think anyone could believe that he is not a smart person worth trusting.

   Before I give my pick that I do not like, I would like to point out that ole’ Mike has purchased enough Block (SQ) to make it 5% of his portfolio, which makes me feel good about that buy, not that I was worried, but it is nice to see very smart people mimicking your movements. Anyway, his pick I feel negatively about is Alibaba, and it is for one reason: China. I am extremely Bearish on China right now. I believe that very few financial statistics coming out of China right now are correct. I believe Xi Jinping is a dictator who is becoming increasingly paranoid of The West. Jack Ma, the former CEO and founder of Alibaba was literally kidnapped by the CCP because he was too outspoken. On top of that, Alibaba is a Chinese E-Commerce company, and China is struggling economically right now. Consumer spending will not stop falling. China cannot under any circumstances be trusted; do not invest in China. I really don’t get this pick.

Okay, that was a smidgen more negative than I meant for it to be, but you have to remember that every stock has to clear very strict criteria for me, so I am an extremely critical investor. Thank you for reading, and if you see Jack Ma, tell him to leave China.