ORACLE OF OMG!

Warren gets buffeted by 27% profit plunge

As investors descend on Nebraska by the thousands to query the “Oracle of Omaha” this weekend, they’ll likely bring more questions than he cares to answer.

Berkshire Hathaway, the investing conglomerate headed by folksy billionaire Warren Buffett, on Friday revealed an ugly first-quarter profit drop of 27 percent, fueled by a loss from insurance underwriting.

That’s not the only nasty bit of news Berkshire investors have weathered of late, as Buffett’s empire has grappled with bad press over questionable calls.

Only a day earlier, Buffett had pricked up ears by announcing on CNBC that Berkshire had cut its IBM stake by nearly a third.

In a painful admission that sent IBM shares tumbling 2.5 percent, Buffett said he no longer valued the tech giant “the same way I did six years ago when I started buying. … I’ve revalued it somewhat downward.”

This, some will recall, is the sage who missed the internet boom by telling his flock in 1998, “Technology is just something we don’t understand, so we don’t invest in it.”

Reversing course in 2011, Buffett maintained that IBM met his principles: “It’s something we expect to own indefinitely.”

It’s OK for someone as steady as Buffett to change his mind every now and then. Indeed, many wished Buffett had changed his about Berkshire’s $27.6 billion stake in Wells Fargo, which makes him the bank’s biggest shareholder.

Instead, when pressed about the bank opening 2 million fake accounts for unwitting customers, Buffett would only call the scandal an “egregious mistake.”

Buffett didn’t punish Wells Fargo with Berkshire’s portfolio, and he appeared to have voted for its entire board last week, despite stiff opposition that left several directors including the chairman hang- ing onto their seats by razorthin margins.

This is from a man who once declared Berkshire could afford to lose lots of money but not “lose reputation — even a shred of reputation.”

Berkshire’s 27-percent stake in Kraft Heinz also stands to come under scrutiny, especially since the packaged-goods giant last week reported disappointing earnings despite ruthless cost cuts that have slashed thousands of jobs.

The cheese-and-ketchup maker’s first-quarter sales dip of 3 percent was the fourth such decline during the past five quarters. Add to that Kraft Heinz’s February failure to win over Unilever after offering an 18-percent takeover premium.

A more upper-class problem, yet still a potential issue, is the $90 billion in cash in Berkshire’s coffers.

Buffett repeated his “I hate cash” refrain during an CNBC interview on Friday — but for a man who hates it, the self-styled king of compound interest holds a lot of it.

Shareholders might want to know why it’s not being returned to them through dividends or stock buybacks.