Advanced physics

What is your assessment of Berkshire Hathaway's investments in Buffett's largest equity positions shown in case Exhibit 5? Has he been uniformly successful in making major investments?

Shares** Cost* Market 151,610,700 American Express Company 1,287 $ 14, 106 400,000,000 The Coca-Cola Company 1,299 16,888 18,513,482 DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. 843 1,402 15,430,586 Deere & Company 1,253 1,365 24,617,939 DIRECTV 1,454 2,134 13,062,594 The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. 750 2,532 76,971,817 International Business Machines Corp. 13, 157 12,349 24,669,778 Moody's Corporation 248 2,364 20,060,390 Munich Re 2,990 4,023 52,477,678 The Procter & Gamble Company 336 4,683 *** 22, 169,930 Sanofi 1,721 2,032 96,890,665 U.S. Bancorp 3,033 4,355 43,387,980 USG Corporation 836 1,214 67,707,544 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 3,798 5,815 483,470,853 Wells Fargo & Company 11,871 26,504 Others 10,180 15,704 Total Common Stocks 55,056 $ 117,470 Percent Gain of Market over Cost *Actual purchase price and tax basis; GAAP "cost" differs in a few cases because of write-ups or write-downs that have been required under GAAP rules. *Excludes shares held by pension funds of Berkshire subsidiaries. ***Held under contract of sale for this amount