- Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders is set to be released on Saturday, February 22.
- Berkshire Hathaway, the company Buffett runs, will also report its fourth quarter 2019 earnings the same day.
- Here's what analysts will be looking for in the company's earnings release and Buffett's letter.
- Watch Berkshire Hathaway trade live on Markets Insider.
- Read more on Business Insider.
It's a moment investors have been waiting for. On Saturday, famed value investor and "Oracle of Omaha" Warren Buffett will release his annual shareholder letter in tandem with Berkshire Hathaway's fourth quarter 2019 earnings.
In the letter, which Buffett has been writing to Berkshire Hathaway investors each year since 1965, he will give an overview of the company's performance and plans for the future.
Investors are already aware of some details around Berkshire Hathaway's performance in 2019. The company's stock returned only 11% for the year while the S&P 500 gained 29%, the worst underperformance of the broader market in a decade.
In addition, Buffett again ended the year without a major "elephant-sized" acquisition despite a few attempts at one. He did not make an offer for Tiffany & Co., as he's long avoided bidding wars. Buffett also refused to bid higher for Tech Data, which he lost to Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm.
Now, analysts and investors are curious about what's next for Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, especially as the company is sitting on a growing cash pile that ballooned to a record $128 billion in the third quarter of 2019.
"One thing that people are looking for and I am looking for is an update on the acquisition strategy," Cathy Seifert of CFRA told Markets Insider in an interview, adding that she's "not necessarily optimistic" that investors will hear one.
In a 2018 letter to shareholders, Buffett said he hoped to invest more of Berkshire's cash, but was having trouble finding deals because "prices are sky-high for businesses possessing decent long-term prospects." Just last week, Charlie Munger, the vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett's right-hand man, noted that it's been a long time since the company bought anything. "We're gradually getting more pessimistic about using our money," he said, according to Bloomberg's Katherine Chiglinsky.
In the meantime, the company has been trying to deploy some of its cash in other ways. Berkshire Hathaway recently changed its rules around share buybacks and repurchased $700 million of its own stock in the third quarter, but analysts pointed out it could have bought more. Berkshire has also continued to put money into its holdings of marketable equities.
The company bought shares of grocery chain Kroger and pharmaceutical giant Biogen in the fourth quarter, and increased holdings of General Motors and RH, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Still, Berkshire was a net seller of equities in the fourth quarter, offloading shares of Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Apple.
Here's what three analysts are saying before Warren Buffett's annual letter and Berkshire Hathaway's earnings Saturday.