This week, Warren Buffett turned 90 years old. Happy Birthday, Warren! Also, his company, Berkshire Hathaway, announced they had taken huge stakes in five of the largest Japanese conglomerates. In a year when Tesla, Apple, and other growth stocks have seemingly done nothing but go up, some may wonder why the world’s most famous stock investor would invest billions of dollars in companies like Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., and Sumitomo Corp. Given the dismal performance of Japanese stocks over the past 30 years or so, the questions aren’t surprising.

Tesla, the electric car, battery, and solar roof company, is up over 300% this year. Their recently disclosed plans to build a new car factory in the Austin area has raised our clients’ interest in Elon Musk’s little spark car venture even further. Just this week, after announcing a 5 for 1 stock split, the stock has gone up over 20% through yesterday’s close. If you are wondering why you didn’t buy some of that before it took off, you’re probably not alone. For value investors, the room for second guessing has gotten quite crowded.