Investors should avoid Occidental Petroleum as Warren Buffett's move could mirror his soured 2008 bet on ConocoPhillips, Bank of America says

Should investors follow WarrenBuffett as he builds a stake in another company? The answer is no according to Bank of America.

In a note to investors on Monday, the bank maintained its "neutral" view on the stock and set an $80 price target, which would represent potential upside of 12% from current levels.

BofA said there are better options ifBuffett's stake is bullish on oil prices.

The approval to purchase up to 50% of the company was granted last week by the company's board of directors. There is a chance that a full takeover of the company could happen in the future.

BofA said that with limited upside in the stock, Buffet risks bidding against himself for complete control of the company.

BofA said that "Berkshire Hathaway's role as the 'rate of change' agent may have been overlooked but their disclosed interest may continue to squeeze short positions, recent out performance may mean the risk from here is that they end up bidding against itself."

The bank reminded investors that Warren Buffet's oil bets have not always worked out well.

The track record of the company has not always worked out so well. BofA said that there was a time in the past when a large equity position was taken publicly by Warren Buffet as a sign of his position on oil prices.

A crash in oil prices in 2008 led to a decline in the stock price of the company.

In his annual shareholder letter, he admitted that he made a major mistake by buying a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock. I didn't anticipate the dramatic fall in energy prices, but I think the odds are good that oil will go up in the future.

Our point is not to pick on the misfortunes of one company, but rather to point out that it was not the only one. BofA said that it is simply to point out that it does not mean that some proprietary insight can drive market recognition of value.

There are better oil stocks to invest in if an investor believes that oil prices will continue to go up.

We see better options to play that theme where there is still rate of change, capacity for outsized cash returns and more meaningful value upside. BofA concluded that the risk for the company was that it would bid against itself.