BlackRock Inc BLK? Down 30% from ATH and trading at 17.8 to 1 P/E. Is it a buy?

[macheath]

Just as the title states, is BlackRock Inc. a good buy right now? It seems as though the entire investing world is purchasing their ETF's with Vanguard being their primary competition. Any uncertainties or liabilities that the business may have that anyone wants to bring to my attention prior to taking a $100,000 position? Would just going for Berkshire B class shares be a better strategy?

 

[cadenny]

@macheath I've been eyeing their stock too, although I wouldn't lump sum 100k into it. DCA gradually maybe

 

[snoop101]

@macheath Not advising one way or the other, but one thing about BlackRock is that they’ve been seeing outflows in some of their funds on both sides of the same reason. They’ve really set themselves up as the big ESG fund family. On one end, pension funds have been pulling out saying that their ESG focus is losing them returns, and that their duty is to fund the retirement of their beneficiaries, and not to Larry Fink’s personal views. On the exact other hand, there have been endowments and foundations pulling out saying that they want to divest from some industries that BlackRock still has in their funds, namely some oil companies…

I really have no idea if this will impact them much, but I do think that they are starting to tie themselves with the concept of ESG as factor investing, and the trajectory of that factor being in IPSs could affect them. If it becomes huge, they’re setting up for it, if it loses steam, well, people will look for better returns elsewhere.

They have a long and solid run and really got huge when ETFs got big. A shift away from passive investment would be a major blow to them if that were to happen. If people all got back into active management then that would certainly eat at them until they could pivot.

How either of those trends will go, I don’t know. How the company will respond to either, I don’t know. But, these have definitely been things BlackRock has been setting themselves up for for a while now, and think they’re worthwhile macro trend considerations.

 

[spirited701]

@macheath Think about this. If the house always wins, why bet against it? If Blackrock really controls everything anyway (I saw Englands new head finance person was associated with Blackrock), why not choose them? They are scummy sure, but are you trying to make money or a social statement?

SCHD has Blackrock in its top 10, if you want some indirectly.

 

[mneng]

@spirited701 Half of this sub buys iShares and people relentlessly shill indicies but then hurr durr BlackRock bad.

 

[fromsalemwithlove]

@macheath When it was sitting at $503 where were you ?

 

[thestandard]

@macheath Id rather go with vanguard and berkshire B. however and it is a possibility that both buffet and especially munger might not be the top 2 for many more years and they without a doubt will have taught their successors to work as they do and to think as they do since they still invest with the 20 year into the future mindset and they want that to keep going forever but the overall market will most likely panic and the stocks might tank especially the b class with the retail investors in it.

sometimes i really believe it's a little late to go into berkshire when you're basically 20 years too late but i would still buy but not too aggressive just in case the stock does tank and gets a lot cheaper in 6 years. it will rebounce though i don't think anything will change considering the companies berkshire owns work with full autonomy and have access to berkshire money but berkshire doesn't do any management for most of their companies because they employ managers that work like they do well beyond usual retirement ages and net worth so it will go up again. most people don't know that though and think they have active management roles or any rules to their managers when the only rule buffet mentions every other year when he sends them a letter is to keep their reputation and integrity high.

 

[kimbe28]

@thestandard I think the best thing Buffett and Munger can do for BRK is to make a statement saying that they haven't actually done anything with the company for X years, and have been letting their replacements run the business. They need to make that statement before they die, and in a video address for after their death. That would completely stomp out any uncertainty about the near future of the company, and I think it aligns perfectly with their investing ideas. Like if someone asks them 'Should we invest in BRK because Buffet and Munger are great investors?' They would say no, and say the reason you should invest in BRK is because of the underlying assets BRK owns.

 

[thestandard]

@kimbe28 except everyone knows those both LOVE working and no matter how many videos and statements they put out regarding their successors, the successors aren't them. the market has been very volatile for a while now and with so much going on that won't change. a majority of people is going to be afraid and sell out it's inevitable. but that just means brk -b on sale and i can start gobbling up shares.