上周五，巴菲特經營了50多年的綜合型集團伯克希爾-哈撒韋披露，截至今年第二季度末，該公司持有的現金幾乎達到1000億美元。

雖然這一數字凸顯了這些年來巴菲特收購的企業賺錢能力驚人，但持有大筆現金同樣也是個負擔。伯克希爾不分紅，也幾乎不回購自己的股票，所以巴菲特必須為這些資金找到投資途徑。

投資管理公司Wedgewood Partners的資產規模約為60億美元，其中包括伯克希爾的股份。該公司首席投資官大衛·羅爾夫說：“讓這些資金發揮作用將是一件很棒的事”，但“他愿意收入囊中的公司非常、非常少。”

在5月份的伯克希爾年度股東大會上，86歲的巴菲特提到了不斷積累的現金問題，他說自己有一段時間沒有“全力開展”收購了，而且不應讓如此之多的資金長期閑置。伯克希爾的現金包括一些類似現金的證券，比如美國國債。

在內布拉斯加州奧馬哈市的CenturyLink中心，巴菲特對聚集在此的數千名股東說：“問題在于‘我們有能力部署這筆資金嗎？’我要說歷史站在我們這邊，但如果有人打來電話，那將更有意思。”

巴菲特一直在尋找投資對象。今年初他開始增持蘋果公司的股票。隨后，伯克希爾在6月份進行了兩筆較小的股權投資。一筆是參股一家房地產投資信托公司，另一筆則投入了加拿大一家陷入困境的抵押貸款公司Home Capital Group。

最重要的一筆投資出現在上個月，伯克希爾的公用事業部門簽訂協議，將斥資約90億美元收購德克薩斯州最大的電力公司。這筆交易面臨著保羅·辛格爾創立的Elliott Management的競購。但如能付諸實施，伯克希爾的現金儲備就會出現相當幅度的下降。

然而，伯克希爾即將賺到的則要多得多。第二季度該公司實現凈利潤42.6億美元，比上年同期減少15%，部分原因是保險業務出現承保損失。但其他一系列子公司，從鐵路公司BNSF到眾多制造企業都賺了錢。

牛市

巴菲特在尋找新投資對象時遇到的部分挑戰可能來自持續了好幾年的牛市。投資公司Edward Jones分析師吉姆·沙納漢說，在股價頻繁創出新高的情況下，找到有吸引力的投資確實變得更難了。現金不斷增多也表明巴菲特愿意等待恰當的時機。

沙納漢指出：“這不是警示信號。”今后幾年，“他們將進行一些讓人真正感興趣的投資。”

比爾·斯米德認為，可能加快伯克希爾投資步伐的是股市回落，甚至出現熊市。斯米德創立的Smead Capital Management管理著大約22億美元資產，其中也包括伯克希爾的股份。在過去，只要有公司或整個經濟出現麻煩，巴菲特就會果斷出擊，以很好的價格進行投資。

斯米德說，如果出現這樣的情況，“他就會處于一個絕佳位置。”(財富中文網）?

譯者：Charlie

審稿：夏林

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate he’s run for more than five decades, reported Friday that it held just shy of $100 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter.

While that figure highlights the staggering money-making ability of the businesses he’s collected over the years, it’s also a burden. Because Berkshire doesn’t pay a dividend and rarely buys back its own stock, Buffett is on the hook to find ways to invest those funds.

“To put that money to work would be great,” said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners, a money manager overseeing about $6 billion including Berkshire stock. But the “list of companies that he would like to own is very, very small.”

Buffett, 86, addressed the mounting cash pile at Berkshire’s annual meeting in May, saying he hadn’t put his “foot to the floor” on an acquisition for a while and shouldn’t keep so much money earning next to nothing for long periods. The war chest includes some cash-like securities, such as Treasuries.

“The question is, ‘Are we going to be able to deploy it?’” he told the thousands of shareholders gathered at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. “I would say that history is on our side, but it’d be more fun if the phone would ring.”

Buffett has been finding a few places to invest. He built a holding in Apple Inc. through the beginning of this year. Then, in June, Berkshire made two smaller equity investments. One was a stake in a real estate investment trust and the other propped up Home Capital Group Inc., an embattled Canadian mortgage lender.

Most significantly, Berkshire’s utility arm struck a deal last month to buy Texas’s largest electric utility for about $9 billion. The transaction its being challenged by Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp., but completing it would make a sizable dent in the cash hoard.

Lots more is bound to pour in. Berkshire posted $4.26 billion in net income for the second quarter. The results were down 15 percent from a year earlier, partly on an underwriting loss at insurance businesses. But a number of Berkshire’s other subsidiaries -- from railroad BNSF to its collection of manufacturing businesses -- posted gains.

Bull Market

Part of Buffett’s challenge in finding new investments may be the years-long bull market. With stocks regularly setting records, it’s simply harder to find attractive deals, said Jim Shanahan, an analyst at Edward Jones. The growing cash pile is also a sign of Buffett’s willingness to wait for the right opportunities.

“It’s not a cause for alarm,” Shanahan said. Over the next few years, “they’ll make some really interesting investments.”

One thing that could accelerate Berkshire’s spending is a correction -- or even a bear market, said Bill Smead, who oversees about $2.2 billion including Berkshire shares at Smead Capital Management. In the past, Buffett has pounced when companies or the broader economy runs into trouble, making investments on favorable terms.

If that happens, said Smead, “he’s in a perfect spot.”