March 24, 2025 Summary In Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A and BRK.B) 2024 annual letter1, Warren Buffett wrote about the passing of Pete Liegl, Founder and CEO of Forest River, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. Mr. Liegl founded Forest River in 1996 after many years in the recreational vehicle industry and owned 100% of the company before selling […]
“A single year’s performance is of minor importance and, good or bad, should never be taken seriously.” – Warren Buffett The Needham Funds’ mission is to create wealth for long-term investors. Historically, this mission has been successful; a $10,000 investment in the Needham Aggressive Growth Fund since its 2001 inception would have grown to $128,238 […]
The Importance of Patience September 30, 2024 “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” -Widely attributed to Warren Buffett Throughout my investing career, I’ve found that patience is the most important virtue for creating long-term wealth. The Needham Aggressive Growth Fund has an average […]
The CHIPS and Science Act – Update on Progress June 11, 2024 In August 2022, we wrote The Growth Factor Vol. 34 about the CHIPS and Science Act and the benefits that this historic spending package should provide for the domestic semiconductor industry. With increasing geopolitical tensions and the explosion of Artificial Intelligence, the importance […]
The 2024 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting – Saturday, May 4, 2024 May 1, 2024 Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s (BRK.A and BRK.B) annual meeting is coming up on May 4, 2024 in Omaha. I look forward to attending my 6th annual meeting, seeing old friends and meeting new. The CNBC Pre-Show1 begins at 9:30 AM ET, with […]
Words and Wisdom from Charlie Munger February 12, 2024 In November 2023, Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B), passed away at age 99. I attended my first Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in May 2017. The annual meeting is a wonderful weekend spent with old and new friends in Omaha. I love […]
Investing in the “Picks and Shovels” September 19, 2023 Mark Twain is credited with saying, “When everyone is looking for gold, it’s a good time to be in the pick and shovel business.” In my pre-Wall Street experience, I sold Electronics Design Automation software to companies participating in the gold rush of the integrated circuit […]
Artificial Intelligence and Needham Funds’ Investments March 3, 2023 “Artificial intelligence like ChatGPT will change our world and make it far more efficient.” – Bill Gates1 What is ChatGPT? “ChatGPT is an AI model developed by OpenAI that can respond to natural language prompts and generate human-like text based on the input it receives. It […]
The Power of Long-Term Compounding, 2010-2022 December 7, 2022 As Peter Lynch wrote in 1993, “You can find good reasons to scuttle your equities in every morning paper and on every broadcast of the nightly news.”1 While the morning paper and evening news have faded from memory, the sentiment remains. It is easy to find […]
The CHIPS and Science Act – The Importance of U.S. Manufacturing of Semiconductors August 17, 2022 On August 9, President Biden signed the long-awaited CHIPS and Science Act (the Act or the CHIPS Act). Passage of the CHIPS Act is an important step toward revitalizing semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.1 The bill provides $52.7 […]