BUY OR SELL-Are soon-to-be split Berkshire shares a good buy?

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(To read other Reuters 'Buy or Sell' stories, double click on [BUYSELL/])

* Stock trading at price-to-book level below 5-yr average

* Shares up more than 40 pct from 52-week low on March 9

* Bull view: Stock still significantly undervalued

* Bear view: Planned stock-split a mistake, steer clear

By Lilla Zuill

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Billionaire Warren Buffett surprised investors on Tuesday when he backtracked on a long-standing aversion to splitting the stock of his company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N: 行情) (BRKb.N: 行情).

In a letter to shareholders in 1983, Buffett said splitting the stock could attract "inferior" investors, and had stuck to that tune until now.

On Tuesday, the company announced plans for a 50-to-1 stock split, to apply to Berkshire's "B" shares, and lowering the price of the stock from $3,325.35 at Tuesday's close, to roughly $67 a share, potentially opening the floodgates to new investors.

The company's A shares, which closed at $100,450 apiece on Tuesday, will not be subject to the stock split.

The split was announced in tandem with Berkshire reaching a $36 billion deal to buy Burlington Northern (BNI.N: 行情) railroad.

Is this a good time to buy Berkshire stock, especially given the lower post-split price of the "B" shares? Three investment advisers weigh in:

STEVE CHECK, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER OF CHECK CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC:

"I think the stock is quite cheap. It (A shares) should be trading for around $125,000 a share. And it is a very low risk time to get into the stock.

"Firstly, the ratio-to-book value is very cheap, and secondly, book value is going to go up as investments he has made recently pay off. And with Burlington Northern you are taking a bunch of cash that is yielding 1 percent or less and turning it into an immediate yield of 6 percent to 7 percent. You don't have much risk of the numerator not moving up."

Check, calculates the stock, based on third-quarter estimates, is valued at about 1.25 times book value versus an average of 1.5 times book value over the past five years.

DENNIS GARTMAN, AUTHOR/PUBLISHER OF THE GARTMAN LETTER AND HEDGE FUND FOUNDER:

"Mr. Buffett has always said he had no intention of splitting the stock. Doing this is a serious weakness on Berkshire's part. All a stock split does is entice weaker hands into buying the shares.

"I would not consider this an opportunity to buy. I think the decisions that have been done are not good decisions. He is splitting the stock, and paying a premium for a railroad when he has in the past always demanded a discount, and running his cash position down. I don't see how you can see this as anything other than detrimental to the share price."