EXCLUSIVE: Warren Buffett Is 'The Ultimate Investor' – Market Expert Jay Woods Says Berkshire CEO 'The Stuff Of Legends'
Legendary investor Warren Buffett is set to step down from his role as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK)(NYSE:BRK) at the end of 2025. Freedom Capital Markets Chief Market Strategist Jay Woods shares with Benzinga what Buffett’s legacy means to him and recounts a chance encounter with the Oracle of Omaha.
The Ultimate Investor
As the man who beat the S&P 500 many times heads to the exit, Woods was asked what he will remember most about Buffett.
“Buffett to me, the ultimate investor,” Woods told Benzinga.
Woods said Buffett never really got involved in the technology sector outside of an investment in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and “he didn’t need to.”
“Warren Buffett was someone who bought quality. He bought lots of it. He bought it on the cheap.”
The market expert said Buffett didn’t get stuck in the “day-to-day operations” of companies, choosing instead to take a long-term approach to investing in companies that would perform well.
“His overall trading philosophy is the stuff of legends, and the people that have invested with him have been rewarded for it.”
Woods said having Buffett step down is “the end of an era.”
“I don’t think we’ll ever see anything like that again.”
Chance Encounters with Buffett
Woods shared a story with Benzinga not shared with many others, dating back to the investor’s time working at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).
“I had to go back to the office to get something and it’s very rare I go back to the office. I go back to the office and I go into the lobby and who’s in the lobby? A ton of security people. And in the center of that scrum is Lloyd Blankfein and Warren Buffett,” Woods told Benzinga.
Woods said the encounter between the then-Goldman Sachs CEO and Buffett occurred during the 2008 financial crisis.
“It was announced next day that Warren Buffett was taking a stake in Goldman Sachs and helping secure us when it looked like Goldman was on the ropes like so many other financial companies.”
Woods said when he saw Buffett and Blankfein he had no idea what was about to happen.
“That was part of a historic meeting that I had no idea I was walking by.”
Woods said he also saw Buffett from a distance on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
What’s Next for Berkshire Hathaway?
Woods told Benzinga it’ll be weird not getting an annual letter from Berkshire Hathaway or seeing him as active with the company.
“Berkshire continues to invest in great quality companies and I look forward to see what their philosophy is going forward. I suspect it won’t change too drastically from what Warren Buffett has instilled in them,” Woods said.
The market expert said Berkshire has shown a little more “risk on” with recent investments like UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), which was bought on a dip.
“I’m curious to see what kind of investing strategy the new team takes because we are seeing some more risk and more technology names.”
Woods highlighted the recent investment by Berkshire in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) as an example.
Another stock highlighted by Woods was Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), which the investor said Berkshire has kept buying and buying despite the stock going nowhere.
“Are they still believers in the energy space? And what’s their time horizon?”
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