India is yet to make its debut on legendary investor Warren Buffett's portfolio, but there are at least three companies from the country — technology majors Infosys, Wipro and Satyam — that are fit to make the grade, according to Standard and Poor's.
The world's leading rating agency and investment services provider compiles a list of stocks meeting Buffett's investment criteria twice a year. The latest such portfolio includes the names of the three US-listed Indian IT firms.
Infosys, Wipro and Satyam have been named alongside global giants such as healthcare products major Johnson & Johnson, fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's, IT behemoths Microsoft, Oracle, Qualcomm and SAP as well as BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion in the September update of S&P's Buffett Stock Screen.
In the previous edition of this portfolio, released in February, there were a total of 60 stocks. It has declined to 49 in the latest list.
While Satyam has made a comeback after exiting the portfolio in February, a number of big names such as Apple and PepsiCo have made an exit this time around, industrial conglomerate 3M, tobacco major Altria Group, British American Tobacco, China Mobile, Cisco Systems, Diageo and GlaxoSmithKline have made an exit this time around.
Besides, Latin American telecom major America Movil, led by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim who is ranked as the second richest in the world after Buffett, has also moved out of S&P's Buffett screen.
The portfolio includes only those companies listed in the US market.
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Infosys, Wipro and Satyam have made it to the list because of their listings in the country. The list published in August 2007 has a total 55 stocks including Infosys, Satyam and Wipro, while the 56 stock-February 2007 list had Infosys and Satyam.
S&P has been updating this Buffett portfolio on a semi-annual basis — in February and August/September — since 1995 and it includes stocks meeting the criteria that Buffett has emphasised in the past, although these are not necessarily stocks that Buffett has bought or ever plans to buy.
"This screen, developed by Standard & Poor's, is based on criteria the legendary investor has emphasised over his long career. Only stocks with a market capitalisation of at least $500 million are included," S&P said.