Shares of HP Inc. jumped nearly 18 per cent on Thursday after Warren Buffett’s company snapped up more than 11 per cent of the printer and computer maker over the past week in another uncharacteristic tech investment from the billionaire.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said in a filing with the USSecurities and Exchange Commission that it now owns nearly 121 million HP shares, giving it control of 11.5 per cent of the company. HP shares rose more than $6 to $41.12 in the first day of trading since the purchases were disclosed. The company is based in Palo Alto, California.

Buffett began the year telling shareholders he was having trouble finding anything at attractive prices to invest Berkshire’s nearly $147 billion pile of cash. Since airing that sentiment in his annual letter back in February, Berkshire said it would spend $11.6 billion to acquire the Alleghany insurance conglomerate, and it bought more than $7 billion worth of Occidental Petroleum stock.
Buffett has long shied away from investing in tech companies saying that it was too hard to pick long-term winners. Yet he’s liked Apple’s prospects enough to buy more than 5.6 per cent of the iPhone maker in recent years and it appears he’s found something similarly alluring in HP.

The Berkshire filing doesn’t disclose whether Buffett or one of Berkshire’s other investment managers made the HP purchases but Buffett has said he typically handles investments of more than $1 billion. Berkshire didn’t immediately respond on Thursday to questions about the HP investment. Many investors track Buffett’s investment moves closely because of his remarkably successful track record over the decades.