Li Lu’s Top-Performing Stocks in 2021

According to current portfolio statistics, a Premium feature of GuruFocus, five of

Li Lu (Trades, Portfolio)’s seven holdings gained more than 30% in 2021: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, Financial)(GOOG, Financial), Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial), Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial) and Meta Platforms Inc. (FB).

The Chinese-born guru received bachelor of arts, juris doctor and MBA degrees from Columbia’s business and law schools. In 1997, Li founded Himalaya Capital, a multibillion-dollar investment firm that embraces value investing principles taught by Benjamin Graham and Berkshire co-managers

Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) and
Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio).

When he considers investments, Li said he follows an approach in which he only swings at baseballs in his most-comfortable areas of the strike zone. As of the latest portfolio filing, Himalaya’s U.S.-based equity portfolio contains seven stocks with a quarterly turnover ratio of 11%. The top three sectors in terms of weight are technology, financial services and communication services, representing 42.92%, 35.83% and 19.71% of the equity portfolio.

Alphabet

Himalaya owns 85,900 Class C shares of Alphabet (

GOOG, Financial), giving the position 10.66% equity portfolio weight.

Shares of Alphabet traded around $2,817.12, up approximately 62.2% over the past 12 months. The stock is modestly overvalued based on Thursday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.23.

GuruFocus ranks the Mountain View, California-based online search giant’s profitability 10 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a five-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 8 and profit margins and returns that outperform more than 87% of global competitors.

Other gurus with holdings in Google include Dodge & Cox and

PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio).

Bank of America

Himalaya owns 12,358,987 shares of Bank of America (

BAC, Financial), giving the position 24.42% equity portfolio weight.

Shares of Bank of America traded around $48.95, up approximately 47.47% over the past 12 months. The stock is significantly overvalued based on Thursday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.42.

GuruFocus ranks the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank’s financial strength 3 out of 10 on several warning signs, which include cash-to-debt and debt-to-equity ratios that are underperforming over 70% of global competitors.

Berkshire Hathaway

The firm owns 897,749 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway (

BRK.B, Financial), giving the position 11.41% equity portfolio weight. Shares traded around $320.52, up 37.49% over the past year. The stock is significantly overvalued based on Thursday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.35.

GuruFocus ranks the Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance conglomerate’s profitability 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a four-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 8 and profit margins and returns that are outperforming more than 85% of global competitors.

Apple

Himalaya owns 759,600 shares of Apple (

AAPL, Financial), giving the position 5% weight in the equity portfolio.

Shares of Apple traded around $172.19, up approximately 36.95% over the past year. The stock is significantly overvalued based on Thursday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.41.

GuruFocus ranks the Cupertino, California-based tech giant’s profitability 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a five-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 7 and profit margins and returns that outperform more than 96% of global competitors.

Meta Platforms

Himalaya owns 572,600 shares of Meta Platforms (FB), giving the position 9.05% weight in the equity portfolio.

Shares of the company formerly known as Facebook traded around $326.48, up approximately 32.73% over the past year. The stock is modestly undervalued based on Thursday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.85.

GuruFocus ranks the Menlo Park, California-based company’s profitability 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a five-star business predictability rank and profit margins and returns that outperform more than 90% of global competitors.