5 Stocks Warren Buffett and Insiders Are Crazy About

2. Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA)

Warren Buffett’s Stake: $1,700,345,238

Richard K. Davis is a board member at Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA). He bought 1,000 shares of the payments giant on November 9, 2023, at $390.96 per share. On November 9 last year the stock was trading at $387.96. As of March 6 the stock is trading at around $467.52. This shows the stock gained about 20% during this period.

Warren Buffett has been holding stakes in Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) since the first quarter of 2011. As of the end of 2023 Berkshire had a $1.7 billion stake in Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA).

Ensemble Capital Management stated the following regarding Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) (7.21% weight in the Fund): Payment companies are data companies. As we discussed last quarter in our write up of Mastercard, merchants can generate significant value from analyzing payment data to better understand their customers. Mastercard has long built AI-based products to enhance payment security and provide merchants with rich data analytics. In December, they rolled out Muse, a new online shopping companion that merchants who utilize certain Mastercard services can install on their own websites.

Muse seeks to replicate the instore experience of working with a salesclerk by allowing the customer to use natural language to browse products. Online shopping already works well if you know exactly what you are looking for, but Muse is striving to help customers find things to buy even when they aren’t sure what they are looking for.

Mastercard (7.21% weight in the Fund): In late October, Mastercard reported earnings that investors interpreted as pointing to a near term slowdown in payment growth. The stock fell 5.6% on the day. By the end of the next week, the stock had recovered its losses and went on to reach a new all time high on the last day of the year. But the 7.9% gain on the quarter slightly trailed the S&P 500.”