Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Invest Like Buffett & Berkshire With These Top Stock Picks

Read MoreHide Full Article

Warren Buffett has for years been looked at as an investment icon, while maintaining a relatively simple mantra. Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B - Free Report) have long tried to invest in companies that both the Oracle of Omaha and the conglomerate understand. This sounds easy enough, but what are some of Buffett’s most recent investments?

Apple (AAPL - Free Report)

Berkshire upped its stake in Apple by 5% during the second quarter, according to its Tuesday regulatory filing with the SEC. Buffett’s company has beefed up its stake in the iPhone giant over the last two years to the point where Berkshire became Apple’s second-biggest shareholder—owning 4.96% of AAPL stock—as of March 31, behind only Vanguard.

Buffett for years avoided the tech sector, but he began to invest heavily in Apple, which included more than doubling Berkshire’s stake in the firm in early 2017. Berkshire raised its holdings of Apple stock by 12.4 million shares in the second quarter. The move lifted its stake in Apple to $46.6 billion as of the end of June.

The investment giant placed its faith in Apple because the company understood its business model and its consumer-facing tech products. Plus, Berkshire saw that Apple ran an extremely successful business. “If you look at Apple, I think it earns almost twice as much as the second most profitable company in the United States,” Buffett told CNBC in May.

Shares of Apple have soared roughly 80% since the start of 2017. Looking ahead, Apple’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenues are projected to climb by nearly 16% to hit $60.98 billion, based on our current Zacks Consensus Estimate.

At the other end of the income statement, Apple is expected to see its adjusted Q4 earnings surge by roughly 33% to hit $2.75 per share. Furthermore, Apple has earned nine earnings estimate revisions for Q4 over the last 30 days, with 100% agreement to the upside. Apple has also seen 10 full-year revisions during this same stretch, against zero downward changes, which helps it earn its Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

 

Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report)

Moving On, Berkshire also added more shares of Goldman Sachs in the quarter, while it sold some shares—roughly 1%—of Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) . The company added 2.3 million shares of the investment banking giant and sold 4.5 million shares of the embattled banking firm.

Berkshire upped its total holding in GS by 21% in a sign on confidence that Goldman is headed in the right direction. And it seems that Buffett’s bet looks more than justified. Goldman is projected to see its full-year revenues surge over 13.5% to hit $36.42 billion. Meanwhile, GS is expected to report adjusted fiscal year earnings of $24.98 per share, which would mark a more than a 26% climb from the year-ago period.

Goldman is also currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) that has earned seven full-year upward earnings estimate revisions over the last 30 days, with 100% agreement to the upside.

Other Moves

Berkshire scooped up another 6.7% of Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA - Free Report) , after it doubled its holding in the company during the first quarter. The firm also upped its stake Delta (DAL - Free Report) by 18.8% and Southwest Airlines (LUV - Free Report) by 18.7%, according to the filing.

The company dropped some of its shares in American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) and United (UAL - Free Report) . But investors should note that Berkshire aims to keep most of its holdings under a 10% threshold to avoid increased regulatory requirements.

Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) , American Express (AXP - Free Report) , Kraft Heinz (KHC - Free Report) , and many other firms remain in Buffett and Berkshire’s massive investment portfolio. 

Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?

Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.

Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look.

See the pot trades we're targeting>>