Value Investing-Oriented Markel Corp’s Top Stock Picks

#2 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A/BRK.B)

– Class A Shares Owned by Markel Corp (as of March 31): 1,084

– Value of Holding (as of March 31): $231.38 Million

Markel also held 1.51 million Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) valued at $214.47 million and 1,084 class A shares worth $231.38 million. Stakes of both class A and class B shares remained unchanged over the quarter. In the first quarter, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) delivered earnings of $2,274 per share, which were in-line with the preliminary figures that the company provided, but a bit lighter than what analysts had had in mind. Lackluster performances in the insurance and railroad businesses that the company owns underpinned this disappointment. While persistently low interest rates have made investment of the float less profitable for insurance companies, the railroad business has been lagging owing to foreign currency headwinds and a commodity supercycle that is coming to a close. First Eagle Investment Management slashed its Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) holding by 55% during the January-March period to 1,515 class A shares valued at $323.38 million.

#1 CarMax, Inc (NYSE:KMX)

– Shares Owned by Markel Corp (as of March 31): 4.91 Million

– Value of Holding (as of March 31): $251.06 Million

The holding which was initiated by Markel in the fourth quarter of 2007 remained unchanged between January and March and represented about 2.35% of CarMax, Inc (NYSE:KMX)’s outstanding stock. Even though the $10.3 billion provider of used vehicles and related products and services beat top- and bottom-line estimates in its financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter ending on February, its stock price is down by almost 6% so far this year as investors believe that the company’s growth is slowing down. Prescott Group Capital Management, which is led by Phil Frohlich held 20,000 shares of CarMax, Inc (NYSE:KMX) valued at $1.02 million at March-end.

Disclosure: None