hey, look, that's what berkshire gets to do because they're winners and then there's berkshire's giganticat no one talks about. buffett sold tons of put options when everybody was terrified. effectively betting that that index would go higher when everyone thought it would go lower and it's since turned out to be brilliant. for every 1% increase, berkshire makes $16 million from the puts. timing is everything and right now the timing is perfect for berkshire hathaway. warren buffett isn't just the oracle, he's the wizard, with the insurance renaissance, berkshire hathaway is too good to ignore even as it is ignored by everyone. i think it is a screaming buy at these levels and i thank all of our viewers for these great comments and great questions. please keep them coming. let's go to bill in kentucky, bill? >> caller: cramer, this is bill from kentucky! >> i had a feeling it was you. what's up? >> caller: i enjoy watching your show and i want your thoughts on procter & gamble's stock. it's been in the low to mid-60s for well over a year and should you buy, sell or hold? >> procter, you h

berkshire, it's a terrific question.hundreds i've received via e-mail at madmoney "cnbc.com and at twitter where you can reach me @jimcramer #tweets and the cnbc twitter. probably blacked out by that yellow thing. what is that yellow thing? let me tell you why i so appreciate this particular set of inquiries and it's because berkshire hathaway is the perfect stock to own in 2012 andy about yond, but nobody realizes it because the company is so hard to analyze. everybody and their mother will praise berkshire ceo and the man who built this company 50 years ago to the diversified multinational powerhouse it is today, making investors a fortune in the process, but lately the adoration for buffett hasn't been translating much into a stock, frankly. isn't that a little ridiculous? the reason for it is pretty simple. berkshire hathaway is really, mri kated. it's an insurance company. it's a railroad. >> all aboard! >> it's a utility and it's a pipeline play and a chemical company, and it sells paint, insurance, it owns big por

people who work weapon berkshire hathaway, people who sell their companies and businesss to berkshire hathaway wanted to be dealing with him, not the next in line. they don't want to be think about those issues wh. mr. buffet is no longer running the company, someone else will step into the role. >> talk about berkshire hathaway the company, how is >> fantastic. the five most important businesses operated at record level. he stated they'll be generating $10 billion in profits next year. >> susie: quarterly profits were down for 20 len. >> if you look at each and every one of the operating businesses, whether it's the utilities or the railroads or manufacturing businesses, they were all up year over year, and all up quarter over quartered. and so the underlying businesses are doing traffically well. the accounting conventions required a wright up, rather than a write down. the earnings go down, but the cash flow went up, and the operating performance has never been stronger. >> susie: but what berkshire stock. the shares trading at 120,000 for two years. >> we think it's worth about $1

here's what buffett had to say what he views as a deep bench at berkshire. >> at berkshire we've got people like matt rose, they are ceos already. we have a choice of dozens of ceos. it's the luxury that i don't know another company that has it. in the end -- it could be tonight, it could be five years from now. >> i'm curious, kraemer, do you think that berkshire hathaway is trading below book value and the fact that investors do not know who will succeed, there is not a clear plan in place? >> i think that's part of it. but i think what's driving the almost dramaticoned performance, the company is so difficult to analyze. this letter does break done the sectors, tells you what it is. at the conclusion of it i still feel the it's too many different companies for anyone to able to make a good analysis. he says if the stock is cheap, he says buy it back. he's not buying back stock. he only bought a thimble full. this is the kind of analysis i find is anachronist being as to offering a dividend. he endorses entirely buyback, another method not working in this market. >> difficult to an

you own roughly a third of berkshire hathaway.on't you consider that the $2 billion that you pay -- that berkshire pays a certain tax bill. you own a third. so, basically that income that berkshire gets, the $2 billion, why don't you consider that as something -- that would skew your tax rate a little higher. you include it in your net worth. why don't you include that $2 billion -- your pro rata share of berkshire's tax bill, since you don't pay ordinary income, or minimal, why don't you consider that as part of your tax bill? >> i'm going to give away every share, every single share of berkshire i have. so, that really belongs to philanthropies. you can argue they -- >> or pay $2 billion. >> i've heard the double taxation argument a lot. actually, i have governor romney's tax returns here as well as my own tax returns. it's interesting. here, for example, in 2004 i had d $46 million of capital gains. you can put up the last page of that return. you'll see on that return that millions and millions of dollars of capital gains. a f

and yet he's the person warren buffett wants to succeed him as chairman of berkshire hathaway, the mega holding company that buffett built. like his father, howard does not live the high life. in fact, he's a farmer who would rather dig up the ground than sit in a boardroom. are you sure he's your son? >> well, i think that's worth checking out. you'll have a big exclusive. [ticking] [bell ringing] >> for 150 years, the floor of the new york stock exchange was the center of the financial world. but today most trading in stocks is done elsewhere by robot computers that buy and sell in microseconds, faster than you can blink an eye. and the computers have done so well that some institutional traders have come to believe that the game is rigged. are humans ever involved in the trading? >> humans are not involved in the trading because humans are way too slow. [ticking] >> there are close to 850,000 of them in the united states, twice the number of atms. the new slot machines, the main attraction at casinos, are like high-tech video games. and states across america are increasingly relying

we'll have you on again. >> better financials for berkshire to buy.monster conglomerate. >> he made great points. >> final trades from the halftime team next. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. >>> welcome back. apple hitting an all-time high. time for the fina

one is berkshire hathaway itself.hink berkshire might have 40% of business tied up in one way or another with the housing market. whether it's carpets or bedroom or paint. >> interesting point. >> they have a very, very big exposure to the housing market. wells would be certainly involved with lending. and in fact i almost thought that warren might have been taking on the role of chief loan officer -- chief mortgage banker at wells fargo he spoke so glowingly about the virtues of taking out a 30-year fixed both for your own home and for rental properties. but berkshire would be a terrific beneficiary. wells would be because in the event that the world was better for housing, i suspect the yield curve would become a little more steep in which case berkshire -- wells fargo's enormous deposit base would be worth more. >> indeed. gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and from billionaires to millionaires, tonight on "how i made my millions" we're going to look through the martini glass. hand pain

berkshire co.end. am i being maddingly inconsistent? because i accept the dichotomy between a gross stock and a value stock. buffett is trumpeting as a value play. when i buy i want the pace to wait while the value is being bought out. sadly, buffett's love of buybacks for other companies, maybe not his own, is palpable. so berkshire probably won't be paying you a dividend any time soon. as long as the oracle of omaha remains in charge. apple, however, is a growth stock. it's got some terrific earnings momentum. i think the company can earn $55 a share in fiscal year 2012. that's phenomenal growth. and a classic earnings per share growth analysis, measuring the growth rate versus the price to earnings multiple, apple may be the cheapest growth stock in the universe. so if that's the case, why doesn't apple use cash to buy back its own stock? isn't that what buffett said they should have been doing? of course. the company wants to save its money for a rainy day. to put all that money to work you nee

so berkshire probably won't be paying you a dividend any time soon. as long as the oracle of omaha remains in charge. apple, however, is a growth stock. it's got some terrific earnings momentum. i think the company can earn $55 a share in fiscal year 2012. that's phenomenal growth. and a classic earnings per share growth analysis, measuring the growth rate versus the price to earnings multiple, apple may be the cheapest growth stock in the universe. so if that's the case, why doesn't apple use cash to buy back its own stock? isn't that what buffett said they should have been doing? of course. the company wants to save its money for a rainy day. to put all that money to work you need a noah's ark level rainfall. would have, should have, could have. frankly, i don't care. apple doesn't need to augment its pure earnings per share by changing the devisor. i don't think that's the case here. this is still tech. somebody could still come up with a better mousetrap within the foreseeable future. so maybe the stock isn't as cheap say in the very far out years

billionaire investor warren buffett's berkshire hathaway disclosed its portfolio holdings in an s.e.cfiling. as of the end of the fourth quarter, the company bought stock in davita, which provides dialysis services, and liberty media. berkshire also increased its stakes in coca-cola, cvs caremark, directv, general dynamics, intel, visa, and wells fargo. but it cut its holdings of johnson and johnson, and exxonmobil. >> susie: taxes, and how much politicians pay, has been a big issue in the republican presidential primary. the debate leads allan sloan looking to hire mi romney as his tax accountant. allan is senior editor at large at "fortune." >> if the presidential thing doesn't work out for mitt romney, there's a whole other career he can pursue-- retirement planner. romney has gotten what is probably the greatest retirement package in history. even though he left bain capital in 1999, romney still gets millions a year from bain's piece of the profits that investors get from bain's buyout funds, and pays only 15% federal tax on it. in some years, less. compare that with my social se

according to berkshire hathaway's latest filing, berkshire has added a position in liberty media and made a near $1 billion investment in directv, raising its stake nearly fivefold. berkshire also picked up additional shares of general dynamics and took a new stake in dialysis provider davita. it reduced stakes in johnson & johnson and kraft foods. back to you. >> thank you very much. have a great day. >> you, too. >> thanks. >>> capital one has been given the green light to acquire ing direct. the federal reserve approved do the deal that would allow the bank to acquire ing for $9 million. the move will make capital one the fifth largest bank in the country. >>> he may not be the biggest dog in the house, but this year he is the top dog. >> best in show at the 136th annual westminster kennel club, america's dog show, is the pekignese. [ cheers ] >> look at all that hair. he is smiling behind all that hair. malachi is the first pekignese to win the prestigious title since 1990. the 4-year-old beat out a long line of purebreds in the finals. look at that walk -- bloop, bloop. a funny

what makes us unique in the market that is although we use the highest-quality ingredients, berkshireretentious nature and an accessible price point. our use of chunky-size ingredients and fun flavor led epcurious.com to call us the ben and jerry's of chocolates. >> total sales of $160,000 in 2011. we have national and regional distribution with product placement in over 150 retail stores. we were seek an investment of $500,000 for facility, improvements, equipment, and marketing. in return, we're offering a 14% return on investment with a possible equity position. >> all right, wow. if it is any indication these people did not only take one bite bite, i'll get one in a sec, thank you, they were eating the whole thing the whole time. so mo, you're a venture capitalist, you listen to pitches all day long, how did they do? >> i think they did quite well, actually. it was tight, concise. you made your point very clearly. i have a handful of questions that i'd ask. but i think, you know, you did what's really important in a pitch, which is encapsulate what it is that you do and what it is

according to berkshire's added filing.y made a $1 billion invest mnlts in directv raising itself stake nearly five-fold. >>> investors have their eyes on the fed at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. the federal reserve will release there latest meetings from the fomc meeting and we have a lot of economic data coming out. at 8:30 we'll get the empire state survey. alt 9:00 the treasure international capital flow data. and we'll be watching for those very closely. we're going to get earnings from retailers abercrombie & fitch and cnbc's parent company comcast as well. ryan mumy of mumy financials. when we look at earnings, they have been a big part of that. what are we going to see that gives us a hunt? we had the retail consumers yesterday. that left a lit toll be desired. >> yeah. retail sales over the holiday season, they weren't outstanding. they were okay. and i would expect that abercrombie and fifrp's earnings would reflect that, that they'll be around expectations. retail is traditionally a sector that does well after the econ

in his annual letter to berkshire hathaway investors he said he thought it would have recovered by nowtually he says the housing market has to come back because of human nature. he said while doubling up may be the initial reaction of some during the recession, living with the in-laws can quickly lose it's alures. berkshire generated more than $10 billion in net income last year. >>> we are gearing up for the oscars here on abc7. coverage kicks off today at 1:30 and the big show starts at 5:00 p.m. "seven lives" lizzy is in loves -- los angeles for ail the red carpet buzz and she shows us the excitement that's building. >> now less than 24 hours, still hollywood's biggest night, i'm here on the red carpet where they are putting on the finishing touches. earlier i talked to two oscar nominees, and fortunately -- unfortunately one didn't have much to say. >> did you have any idea you would actually get an oscar nomination for a role you had no speaking. >> i had no idea. >> what was your reaction? >> wonderful. it is a wonderful thing because it's very moving because it is your actual co

in his annual letter to berkshire hathaway investors he said he thought it would have recovered by nowlly he says the housing market has to come back because of human nature. he said while doubling up may be the initial reaction of some during the recession, living with the in-laws can quickly lose it's alures. berkshire generated more than $10 billion in net income last year. >>> we are gearing up for the oscars here on abc7. coverage conclusion off today at 1:30 and the big show starts at 5:00 p.m. "seven lives" lizzy is in loves for all the preparations and she shows us the excitement that's building. >> now less than 24 hours, still hollywood's biggest night, i'm here on the red carpet where they are putting on the finishing touches. earlier i talked to two oscar nominees, and fortunately -- unfortunately one didn't have much to say. >> did you have any idea you would actually get an oscar nomination for a role you had no speaking. >> i had no idea. >> what was your reaction? >> wonderful. it is a wonderful thing because it's very moving because it is your actual colleagues who dec

berkshire hathaway reported a 21% fall in net income in 2011 to $10.3 billion.tt's company is sitting on more than $37 billion in cash. buffett made it clear he is looking to spend some of that saying he is, quote, on prowl. warren buffett with $37 billion to spend, nina. that's a story worth following. >> it certainly ask. it's going to be keeping some people guessing for some time as to who his successor may well be. >>> coming up on "world business today," we talked to the investment banker who swapped the pressures of finance to the profits from fighting. do stay with us here at cnn. matt's brakes didn't sound right... ...so i brought my car to mike at meineke... ...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. >>> welcome back. live from cnn london and hong kong, this is "world business today." >>> when you're knocked down it's not always to -- not always easy to pick yourself up and change your life. one hong kong investment banker has pulled it off pretty successfully. after being laid off from lehman

maybe the islands but for the most part the system is out of here and a few flakes back toward the berkshires. i mentioned cooler temperatures and inch of snow enough for slick travel and something to keep in mind for that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. tampa, florida, 74 degrees and beautiful setup there. a few clouds. southeast florida may still be dealing with a few isolated chances for showers. cleveland, ohio, a chance of lake effect snow showers. maybe a little bit of wintry weather as we work our way to finish the week and take a closer look at a few other areas coming up. >>> chinese inflation heats up. mcdonald's sells more breakfast and what a woman really wants to valentine's day. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, she made millions when it comes to barring all. literally all for the camera. but when it comes to her divorce proceedings, well, that's a different story. >>> coming up, an amazing finish between duke and north carolina. syracuse and georgetown need overtime. will farrell like you

we are getting earnings reports from coca-cola, disney, cisco, berkshire hathaway, linkedin and grouponhich just went public in november. friday we get the u.s. report on imports and exports. we'll see if the u.s. is importing or exporting more goods in the international trade balance report. finally something to cluck about today. americans are expected to eat 1.25 billion chicken wings this super bowl weekend says the usda's national chicken council. enough to circle the earth twice if each wing was laid end to end. of that's 100 million bounds of the spicy snacks that peak at $2 a pound wholesale this time of year. hungry football fans can't beat the heat. that will do it for us today. thanks for joining me. next week, one of the richest individuals, saudi prince alwaleed bin talau. i'll see you next weekend. i have actually put in over my career. and it's 168,000 hours. so just think, if you had an 8-hour job, i'm like a man of 100 and something years old. i've worked very hard to support my family. and i finally reached that point where i'm going to retire. ♪ ♪

berkshire also picked up additional shares of general dynamics and took a new stake in die a dialysisder. reducing its stakes in johnson & johnson and kraft foods. >>> new details this morning about recent vandalism at a richmond elementary school. police say it is not the first time vandals broke in to the school and the two most recent incidents appear to be linked. the campus was first struck over the martin luther king jr. holiday and then again on sunday. in both instances the initial d.j. were tagged there. there is a $20,000 reward for any information from this. >>> 5:19 right now. a popular summer attraction in the tri-valley area may never open again. "contra kcosta times" reports some water slides need major repair work and will be shut down until fixed. they need to meet safety codes and provide handicap access. earlier costs were placed at $200,000, all money the park does not have. families have been visiting the attraction for more than 20 years. >>> 5:20 right now. coming up, five u.s. senators jumping in to try to keep raiders games from being blacked out. details next

. >>> warren buffett says an unnamed successor has been chosen to run berkshire hathaway when the time comes. however, the 81-year-old billionaire investor insists he isn't going anywhere. >>> and tough times in greece were set aside for the country's biggest carnival parade yesterday with handmade floats that poked a little fun at the country's political leaders. >>> well, coming up, the badgers beat the buckeyes, and one amazing backwards goal. plus, the west hang on to win last night's all-star shoot-out. your early-morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> and in weather, we're going to be watching a potent storm system moving through the rockies today and a snowstorm for the northern plains tomorrow. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, an injured kobe bryant made history at last night's all-star game in orlando. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >>> hi there, good morning. as hollywood rewarded the best in cinema, the finest basket

become difficult to separate nature from berkshire because of these in our mental factors.hing that is interesting is music manifests itself in some way different ways. not all composers can blame their instruments very well. and not all instrumentalists compose, and there are for rangers that do not play or compose. you would not say that they are not musical. then you have all of these people who are musical experts, disk jockeys, film supervisors, and they have what we would call musical sensitivity, but it manifests itself in so many different ways, the hunt for a gene is complicated by that. if you are looking for a gene that might give you blond hair, that manifests itself in different ways, but more less is blond hair. musicality is 10 or 12 different things. and to become a great musician requires different personalities. you have to be willing to sit in a room off for hours on end practicing, that kind of willpower, and you have to have a belief in yourself, certainly, for the first few years of musical training, it does not sound very good. you have to believe it

>> the thing to keep in mind here, we're buying the usual favorites, conoco phillips, berkshire hathaway. the thing to keep in mind, we're looking at a monday after a huge jobs report and a huge accompanying rally. if you go back and look at the history of post-nfp mondays, they're typically subdued. i wouldn't say this is a pop, i would say the market is pausing. the financials are barely down. this is not a down bank day. i don't see any reason to read more into it. >> it's not like valuations are all of a sudden out of whack given the gains in the markets. >> i agree with josh and grasso and pete. this does seem like they've pressed the pause button. doesn't seem like any harsh selling, at least not in the stocks we're talking about. we'll find some, i'm sure, that we can talk about. as well as the financials, they're a minor reset. they went right back to work. that unusual activity again, last week when they're coming into morgan stanley, coming into bank america and so forth, they're not running away from the stocks like they used to. a very minor, what is it, 0.2%, 0.3% sell-off f

. >> paul, i'm not friending warren buffett the berkshire hathaway ceo.th as a buffet rule to tax him and his rich friends. they're paying capital gains because he's giving his wealth to the family controlled trust in the gates foundation. basically the buffet rule is hardly going to affect warren buffett although may hit a lot of the the rich friends he talked about. >> paul: all right, james. kim. >> a hit for susan g komen for the cure, the charity now stopped giving money to planned parenthood and list add lot of boring reasons for stopping the grants, but in the case the huge backlash among liberals claiming it's political. not giving money because planned parenthood also does abortions. whatever the reasons, it was the right one. millions of americans have taken part in komen events thinking they're raising money for a cure for a cancer not women's issues, this is called mission creep. >> paul: thank you, kim. if you have your own hit

. >>> warren buffett says an unnamed successor has been chosen to run berkshire hathaway when the timeomes but he insists he's not going anywhere. >>> and tough times in greece were set aside for the country's biggest carnivale parade yesterday with handmade floats that pokes fun at the country's political leaders. >>> well, coming up, the badgers beat buckeyes. one amazing backwards goal. >>> plus, the west hang on to win last night's all-star shootout. your first look at sports is straight ahead. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thou

buffett says the berkshire board is enthusiastic about the person he has picked. we'll have that and more here on "weekends with alex witt." ok, guys-- what's next ? chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast speeds. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. without the stuff that we make here, you wouldn't be able to walk in your house and flip on your lights. [ brad ] at ge we build turbines that power the world. they go into power plants which take some form of energy, harness it, and turn it into more efficient electricity. [ ron ] when i was a kid i wanted to work with my hands, that was my thing. i really enjoy building turbines. it's

berkshire's or some of the biggest companies in america there are some of the most powerful lockheed martin not only do they make console arms for the defense department around the world they're a federal contractor in many other levels there are going bald elections this statue outside the u.n. headquarters is a symbol of global peace and nonviolence but critics say the idea has been twisted by the us which goes around advocating peace while arming countless conflicts all for the sake of profit marina point ny r.t. new york. meanwhile reports of emerge that support is on its way to aid assad's forces chinese media claim iran has sent fifteen thousand of its elite revolutionary guard troops to help maintain order in syria but professor side mohammad marandi from the university of tehran says despite being an ally of syria iran wouldn't interfere in its domestic problems iran has no troops in the country iran has never had troops involved in the problems within syria this is basically western propaganda someone in the chinese media has been receiving information that is completely fal