A Deep Look Into Guy Spier’s Portfolio: Top 5 Holdings

Guy Spier is the manager of Aquamarine Capital fund with $230 million in assets. He is known for bidding $650,000 with Mohnish Pabrai for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett in 2008. He currently holds 12 stocks under his fund. More than 70% of his fund was invested in the first 5 stocks.

1. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)

Berkshire Hathaway is an investment firm run by Warren Buffett & his partner Charlie Munger. Warren Buffett, known as the greatest value investor of all time manages more than $300 billion in assets under this investment firm. Guy Spier owns 140,600 shares worth $50 million & it is almost 22% of his fund.
Owning Berkshire is a no-brainer thing. Owning Berkshire you get a chance to own great companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, American Express, and Moody’s. These are great companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway stock currently trades 9 PE multiples. Berkshire doesn’t pay dividends.

Guy’s 2^nd largest position is American Express. American Express is a company that provides payment cards all over the world. American Express had a 4.61% worldwide market share by payment volume in 2022 compared to 39% for Visa & 24% for Mastercard. American Express offers travel cards, dining cards, and cash-back cards.
American Express has increased its revenues from $36.2 billion in 2020 to $62.3 billion in 2023. American Express is mainly a cash cow that produces a lot of cash.
AXS currently trades around $220 per share & PE ratio is around 20. AXS has paid $2.8 dividend per share which the dividend yield is 1.28%. During the financial crisis, the stock fell to $12 per share & after 15 years almost 20 baggers.

Mainly the electronic payment industry is dominated by 2 companies. Visa, Mastercard & American Express. Mastercard is the 2^nd largest payment-technology corporation worldwide. In 2020 total payment volume of Mastercard is $6.3 trillion.
In 2023 Mastercard earned $25 billion in revenue & net profit is $11.2 billion. 45% of Net profit Margin. Operating cash flow is $11.98 billion & free cash flow is $10.89, almost very low capital expenditure.
Currently, MA share is trading at $460 per share & PE ratio is 39. It means it will take 39 years to recover your initial investment if the earnings remain the same.
Guy Spier’s 3^rd largest position is Mastercard & is 12.26% of portfolio value. The total value of the Mastercard position in Q4 in 2023 is around $28 million.

Ferrari is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer. Ferrari currently offers a large model range which includes supercars, grand tourers & one SUV.
Guy Spier in his fund holds 80,000 shares of Ferrari which is worth $27 million. Ferrari is the 4^th largest holding in his portfolio. RACE shares currently trade at $411 per share & PE ratio is somewhat high at 56. RACE pays $2.64 per share, 0.64% dividend yield. Over the past 4 years net profit has increased from $607 million to $1.25 billion, almost doubled.

Bank of America is the 5^th largest position in Aquamarine Capital fund. 11.3% of the portfolio worth $25 million shares holds. The Bank of America is an American multinational investment bank & financial services holding company.
The total assets under Bank Of America is $3.18 trillion & total equity is around $292 billion.
BAC shares currently trade around $35 per share & PE ratio is 12. BAC paid a $0.96 dividend last year & dividend yield is 2.77%.