Warren Buffett's words of wisdom Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. INVESTORS should focus on quality stock and "value" doesn't necessarily mean "cheap," according to the world's greatest investor, Warren Buffett. Writing in his much-anticipated annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders the "Oracle of Omaha" said bargain-hunting is not always the way to go when investing. More than 50 years ago, Charlie [Munger, Berkshire's vice-chairman] told me that it was far better to buy a wonderful business at a fair price than to buy a fair business at a wonderful price. Despite the compelling logic of his position, I have sometimes reverted to my old habit of bargain-hunting, with results ranging from tolerable to terrible," he wrote. Fortunately, my mistakes have usually occurred when I made smaller purchases. Our large acquisitions have generally worked out well and, in a few cases, more than well. Don't listen to the pundits The shareholder letter, in which Mr Buffett explains some basic investment strategies in plain simple language, advised fellow CEOs to quit the hand-wringing when it comes to timing investments, saying it's a terrible mistake to try to dance in and out of investing based upon uncertainty and the predictions of experts. Mr Buffet explained how his first stock purchase was in the spring of 1942 when the U.S. was suffering major losses throughout the Pacific war zone and he advised uncertainty does not mean it's not a good time to invest. "Last year many CEOs cried "uncertainty" when faced with capital allocation decisions (despite many of their businesses having enjoyed record levels of both earnings and cash), " he wrote. At Berkshire, we didn't share their fears, instead spending a record $9.8 billion on plant and equipment in 2012, about 88 per cent of it in the United States. That's 19 per cent more than we spent in 2011, our previous high. Charlie and I love investing large sums in worthwhile projects, whatever the pundits are saying. He said that although the immediate future is uncertain - America has been facing this type of uncertainly since 1776. American business will do fine over time. And stocks will do well just as certainly, since their fate is tied to business performance. Periodic setbacks will occur, yes, but investors and managers are in a game that is heavily stacked in their favour. On the hunt for a good deal Mr Buffett is on the hunt for "elephants," as he proved when he invested $48 billion in food group Heinz. He said that while some of his investments failed and he came up empty handed, he predicts Berkshire Hathaway will own Heinz 100 years from now. "Heinz is forever, as far as we're concerned," he said. So it's back to work; Charlie and I have again donned our safari outfits and resumed our search for elephants. He loves newspapers (local ones) Mr Buffett is a big believer in newspapers and doesn't believe that the success of newspapers will come from cutting content or frequency. His company has been buying up papers and will soon own 28 daily newspapers. Newspapers that are going to make money will be those in a tight-knit community that wants local news. He said that whether the news is about "the mayor or taxes or high school football - there is no substitute for a local newspaper that is doing its job." Skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities - while it may improve profits in the short term - seems certain to diminish the papers' relevance over time," he wrote. Buffett's advice to Apple's Tim Cook. Meanwhile Mr Buffett today advised Apple's Tim Cook to buy back some of Apple's stock, echoing his message in his annual letter that value doesn't mean cheap. Apple's share price has dropped to its lowest in more than a year - down to $402 per share from a high of $705. One of the reasons is because Apple CEO Tim Cook hasn't given any indication what he plans to do with the company's massive cash pile. Massive as in $137 billion. Mr Buffett advised the Apple chief to use the money to buy back shares in the company. I would run the business in such a manner as to create the most value over the next five to 10 years. You can't run a business to push the stock price up every day," said Mr Buffett. Berkshire has gone down 50 per cent four times in its history. When that happens, if you've got money you buy it. You just keep working on building the value. Speaking on financial news channel CNBC Buffett said that he also advised the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to do the same thing. When Steve called me, I said, Is your stock cheap? He said, yes. I said, Do you have more cash than you need? He said, a little bit [laughs]. I said, then buy back your stock. He didn't," said Buffett.