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Buffett Partnership Letter 1967 Annual

1967 annual - 35.9% gain vs 19.0% Dow, best performance relative to market in history

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Buffett Partnership Letter 1967 Annual

Warren E. Buffett | January 24, 1968

1967 Performance

Metric Dow Partnership Limited Partners
1967 +19.0% +35.9% +28.4%

Overall gain of $19,384,250. Realized taxable income of $27,376,667.

Why Such a Big Margin?

"Probably a greater percentage of participants in the securities markets did substantially better than the Dow last year than in virtually any year in history."

95% of investment companies outperformed the Dow in 1967.

Investment Categories Performance

Category Avg Investment Gain Return
Workouts $17,246,879 $153,273 0.89%
Controls $20,192,776 $2,894,571 14.3%
Generals - Private Owner $5,141,710 $1,297,215 25.2%
Generals - Relatively Undervalued $19,487,996 $14,096,593 72%

Key Insight

"The really big money tends to be made by investors who are right on qualitative decisions but... the more sure money tends to be made on the obvious quantitative decisions."

Controls Update

Through DRC and Berkshire Hathaway, acquired two new enterprises in 1967:

  • Associated Cotton Shops
  • National Indemnity (and National Fire & Marine)

Both run by excellent managers: Ben Rosner and Jack Ringwalt.

Cumulative Record (1957-1967)

Metric Dow Partnership Limited Partners
Cumulative 165.3% 1606.9% 932.6%
Annual Compounded 9.3% 29.4% 23.6%

Source

Warren E. Buffett, January 24, 1968.