The Results of Copying Warren Buffett
Nov 18th, 2007 by Martin Lee
A soon-to-be released report of a study by Professor Gerald Martin of American University in Washington and Professor John Puthenpurackal of the University of Nevada has shown that investors would have earned close to twice the returns of the S&P 500 Index during the past three decades just by buying the same stocks that Warren Buffett did.
During this period, the S&P 500 rose 12.8%. An investor following the strategy of Warren Buffett would have earned around 24.6%. This returns could be obtained by looking at Buffett’s disclosure of his holdings in regulatory fillings and following them. These disclosures sometimes took place up to four months after Berkshire had made the purchases.
The returns were calculated based on a strategy of buying and selling at the end of the month following Berkshire’s disclosure over 31 years.