Top investments sustained by Warren Buffett over the years, offering insights into his lasting stock preferences.
Free-form Rebuttal:
Warren Buffet, known as the Oracle of Omaha, is an investing legend. Since helming Berkshire Hathaway, the company's annual returns have been a staggering 19.9 percent, crushing the S&P 500's performance by nearly double. A mere $1,000 investment in the S&P 500 would balloon to approximately $390,000, whereas the same amount in Berkshire Hathaway would rake in a whopping $55 million. Buffet, unlike many Wall Street figures, breaks away from the stereotype. He's a fan of simple communication, a Nebraska local, and a loner who stands apart from the short-term market traders.
Buffet's long view is what sets him apart. He's known to hold onto stocks for decades, allowing their value to compound for shareholders. Here are some of Buffet's most impressive picks and companies he's held for over a decade.
Berkshire Hathaway's unconventional methodology
What makes Berkshire Hathaway's investment strategy unique? Buffet can pull the trigger on both stocks and entire companies. He sees no difference in purchasing 5 percent of a company or the whole thing – just a matter of the scale.
One of Berkshire's lengthiest and most successful investments is when it acquired See's Candy in 1972 for $25 million. In 2019, Buffet informed shareholders that See's had generated "well over" $2 billion in pre-tax earnings for Berkshire since the acquisition. The powerful brand See's has allowed it to raise prices, effectively limiting the impact of inflation.
Another long-time holding was an investment in The Washington Post, purchased in 1973 and held for more than 40 years. It was sold to Amazon's Jeff Bezos for $250 million in 2013, with the remaining assets such as TV stations going to Graham Holdings. Berkshire exited Graham Holdings in 2014. The investment was profitable for Berkshire, but it would have been even greater if it had been sold earlier. At the end of 2004, Berkshire's stake was worth nearly $1.7 billion, or about 154 times its cost at the time.
Recently, Buffet has pared down some long-term investments, such as Apple (APPL), Bank of America (BAC), and Chevron (CVX).
Warren Buffet's best stocks of all time and long-held positions
*Source: Berkshire Hathaway SEC filings. Market values as of Dec. 31, 2024
1. Apple (AAPL)
Berkshire began investing in Apple in early 2016, ramping up its position later that year and in early 2017, making it one of its largest investments ever. In 2023, Buffet admitted to shareholders that Apple "just happens to be a better business than any we own." Though he sold some Apple shares from 2018-2020, Buffet stated it was a "dumb decision" to sell. In 2024, Buffet confirmed that he had sold about 13 percent of the Apple position but that it remained a top holding for years to come.
- Length of holding: 9 years
- Cost: ~$10 billion
- Market value: $75.1 billion
2. American Express (AXP)
Berkshire's American Express investment was built primarily in the mid-1990s, though Buffet had owned the stock in the 1960s following a scandal that briefly threatened the company's solvency. Buffet highlighted dividends from American Express to Berkshire had grown from $41 million in 1995 to $302 million in 2022, reaching $409.3 million in 2024.
- Length of holding: 31 years
- Cost: $1.3 billion
- Market value: $45.0 billion
3. Coca-Cola (KO)
Berkshire started buying Coca-Cola's stock in the fall of 1988, eventually building a $1.3 billion position. Just three years later, the investment was valued at $3.75 billion, surpassing the value of the entirety of Berkshire at the time of its investment. Buffet believed that Coke had an extremely strong brand with lots of room for future growth. In 2024, Berkshire received dividends of $776 million from its Coke holdings, and its stake was worth about $28.6 billion.
- Length of holding: 36 years
- Cost: $1.3 billion
- Market value: $24.9 billion
4. Bank of America (BAC)
Berkshire invested in Bank of America through preferred stock and warrants in 2011, exercised the warrants in 2017. Buffet has periodically added to the position since then, including in the first quarter of 2023. Buffet is a big fan of Bank of America's CEO Brian Moynihan, and the holding has become one of Berkshire's largest.
- Length of holding: 14 years
- Cost: ~ $15.2 billion
- Market value: $29.9 billion
5. Moody's (MCO)
In early 2000, Berkshire disclosed an investment in Dun & Bradstreet, which spun off Moody's later that year. Moody's credit rating business is highly profitable and has managed to grow despite periodic calls for reform to the ratings industry. Buffet praised Moody's because it had enormous pricing power and "almost infinite" returns on tangible assets.
- Length of holding: 25 years
- Cost: $248 million
- Market value: $11.7 billion
6. Chevron (CVX)
Berkshire started buying and selling Chevron stock in 2020, peaking at 165.4 million shares in 2022 and selling down to 118.6 million in 2024. A major oil and gas producer, Chevron is also one of the highest-yielding dividend stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In 2024, Chevron paid $6.52 per share in dividends.
- Length of holding: 5 years
- Cost: ~ $15.4 billion
- Market value: $17.2 billion
Investors should conduct their own research before making investment decisions. The past performance of an investment product does not guarantee future profits.
- Warren Buffet has held onto stocks like Coca-Cola for over three decades, with the company's stock costing Berkshire Hathaway $1.3 billion back in 1988 and now being worth approximately $24.9 billion.
- Berkshire Hathaway bought See's Candy in 1972 for $25 million, an investment that has since generated over $2 billion in pre-tax earnings for the company.
- In a departure from recent years, Buffet has sold a portion of his long-term investments, such as Apple, Bank of America, and Chevron, but still values these companies highly.
- Moody's, an investment held by Berkshire Hathaway for 25 years, has been profitable due to its enormous pricing power and almost infinite returns on tangible assets.
