What’s Next for Gates and the World’s Largest Transparent Charitable Endowment? (BRK.A, MSFT, BP, KOF, TV, KO, MCD, FDX, CAT, CNI, XOM, BRK.B)

The endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is often noted for its value focus and close association with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett, and Wall Street will be watching when the portfolio’s end-of-Q3 equity holdings are disclosed later this month.

Bill Gates famously set aside a major portion of the substantial wealth he accrued with Microsoft (MSFT) for his foundation, which, with assets of approximately $34 billion at the end of 2009, is the world’s largest transparently operated charitable foundation. Buffett made headlines in 2006 when he pledged $30 billion in Berkshire shares to the endowment, and while the portfolio is managed by investment officer, Michael Larson, Gates’ proximity to Buffett leads many to believe that he is privy to the Oracle of Omaha’s investment insights.

A look at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s top-15 U.S.-listed equity positions from the end of Q2 shows that the trust was opening new positions in then-beleaguered energy firm BP (BP), Mexican bottler Coca-Cola Femsa SAB (KOF), Class “B” Berkshire shares, and Mexican media company Grupo Televisa (TV).

Elsewhere, during the second quarter, Gates left bets on food and beverage giant Coca-Cola (KO), burger chain McDonald’s (MCD), package transport firm FedEx (FDX), heavy machinery maker Caterpillar (CAT), and railroad firm Canadian National Railway (CNI), while boosting an existing position in energy giant ExxonMobil (XOM).

Investors won’t be sure where Gates stands now until later this month, when the deadline for end-of-Q3 filings hits. At tickerspy.com, members can track the Gates Foundation’s latest holdings, see a graph of their combined performance, and be notified when the firm’s new holdings are made public.

Pro portfolio performance is based on institutions’ top-15 holdings as disclosed in quarter-end filings with the SEC. Pro performance does not take into account additional holdings beyond the top 15 nor does it include positions that are not required to be disclosed by the SEC. As such, Pro portfolio performance should be considered an approximation and not a precise record of how an institution has performed over time.

Tags: BP, BRK-A, BRK-B, CAT, CNI, FDX, KO, KOF, MCD, MSFT, TV, XOM