Did Berkshire Guess Right?

Berkshire Hathaway,billionaire Warren Buffett's holding company,made a number of portfolio changes in 2009,according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Just how effective were these moves?Among the adjustments were additions to various holdings.They added 9.5% more Wells Fargo shares.To date in 2010,Wells Fargo is up 1.4% in value.They also added to Republic Services by 128% in Q4 of 2009.Those shares have gone down 0.8% in value so far in 2010.Berkshire increased their Iron Mountain shares by 107.6% in Q4.That stock has risen 6.1% in 2010.They also added 25% more shares of Becton Dickinson in Q4.Those shares have lost 1.7% in value so far this year.That's two wins and two losses for Berkshire Hathaway on their buy side transactions.
Berkshire Hathaway not only bought a number of shares in 2009;they unloaded a lot of them as well.They cut their Exxon Mobil holding by 67%.To date in 2010,Exxon shares have declined 3.4% in value.Berkshire also axed Procter and Gamble shares by 9.5% in Q4.That stock is up 4.7% this year.Also in Q4 of 2009,Berkshire cut its Conoco Phillips holding by 34.3%.Those shares have depreciated by 4.29% in 2010.The Johnson and Johnson holding was reduced by 26.5% in Q4.That stock has lost 0.9% in 2010.That's three good guesses and one poor one for Mr.Buffett's firm on the sell side.Berkshire Hathaway did better on the sell side than on the buy side,judging by the results to this point in 2010.Overall,they scored five wins and three losses according to the publicly available information.