Warren Buffett: 'My Trigger Finger Is Itchy'

Warren Buffett says he's looking to pull off another major deal on the scale of last year's big railroad purchase. "We're prepared," he writes in his closely watched annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. "Our elephant gun has been reloaded, and my trigger finger is itchy." (Read the letter in full here.) After a big gain in earnings, Berkshire is sitting on about $38 billion in cash, the highest amount since 2007, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Despite his optimism for the US recovery—the report may as well be titled "God Bless the USA," notes the New York Times' Dealbook blog—it wasn't all rosy news: Even though the company's book value increased by 13%, it failed to beat the growth of the S&P (15%) for the second year in a row—a rarity for Buffett. "The bountiful years, we want to emphasize, will never return," he writes. "The huge sums of capital we currently manage eliminate any chance of exceptional performance." Click for one analyst's skepticism that another "megadeal" is in the offing. (More Warren Buffett stories.)