Conservative Stock Portfolio: 5 Best Stocks To Buy

In this article, we will be taking a look at a conservative stock portfolio with the 5 best stocks to buy. To read our detailed analysis of conservative investing in the current market, you can go directly to see the Conservative Stock Portfolio: 10 Best Stocks To Buy.

5. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 108

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) is a financial company based in Omaha, Nebraska. It engages in the insurance, freight rail transportation, and utility businesses.

UBS analyst Brian Meredith maintains a Buy rating and a $414 price target on Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) shares as of August 7.

We saw 108 hedge funds long Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) in the first quarter, with a total stake value of $12.6 billion.

4. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 131

Canaccord’s Michael Walkley has a Buy rating and a $205 price target on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares as of August 4.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a big tech company based in Cupertino, California. It manufactures smartphones, computers, tablets, wearables, and more.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) had 131 hedge funds long its stock in the first quarter, with a total stake value of $165.2 billion.

Here’s what Choice Equities Capital Management said about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its second-quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Dramatic valuation differences across market cap sizes continue. This has been the case for some time now. Perhaps I have spent too much time discussing these dichotomies, as generally, I feel like if we pick the right stocks and manage market exposures thoughtfully, our equities- oriented portfolio will prosper across various market cycles. However, when markets become as lopsided as they have lately, I feel additional discussion on the market environment is worthwhile, if only to help highlight the opportunities that are available and the likely path forward. I expect future discussions to soon be focused again on our moderately concentrated portfolio. But for now, let’s take one last in-depth look at how far reaching these valuation dichotomies have again become.(Please note: charts that accompany the following can be found in the Appendix.)

Take Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for example. It is the largest stock by market cap, and fairly considered one of the best companies in the world. The company has been extraordinarily successful and improved standards of living everywhere in the process with their ubiquitous products. Along the way, shareholders have been richly rewarded, with shares increasing nearly fourteen-fold over the last ten years while generating an annualized total shareholder return of 31%, including dividends.

On the back of another big quarter for large cap tech, it is now the first stock to surpass the $3T market cap threshold. This makes its weighting in the ~$37T market cap of the S&P 500, ~8%. It also means this one stock’s market cap is larger than that of the entire ~$2.98T market cap of the Russell 2000 index, the first time in history a single stock has outweighed the Russell 2000 – aside from two brief days in September 2020 when Apple’s market cap then accomplished the same…” (Click here to read the full text)

3. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 155

Our hedge fund data shows 155 funds long Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the first quarter. Their total stake value was $18.6 billion.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is a communication services company. It is based in Mountain View, California.

An Outperform rating and a $140 price target were held on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares on July 13 by TD Cowen’s John Blackledge.

This is what Weitz Investment Management said about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its second-quarter 2023 investor letter:

“The year-to-date’s top contributors Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (also a top quarterly contributor) have generated an enormous volume of AI-centric headlines. Both are at the vanguard of introducing AI-powered technologies into consumer-facing products, most notably their respective search engine. We trimmed several of the year’s winners on strength, including Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, CoStar Group, Inc. (CSGP), and CarMax.”

2. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 243

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a broad-line retail and e-commerce company with a dedicated cloud services business as well. It is based in Seattle, Washington.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was found in the portfolios of 243 hedge funds, with a total stake value of $25.8 billion.

Redburn Partners analyst Alex Haissl holds a Buy rating and a $230 price target on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares as of August 11.

Weitz Investment Management said the following about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its second-quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was another top performer for the quarter and year-to-date, also with an AI role to play. AI systems require massive computational resources, meaning that as these technologies become more pervasive for businesses of all sizes, customers will increasingly lean on cloud computing platforms like Amazon Web Services to harness the benefits.”

1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 289

There were 289 hedge funds long Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the first quarter, with a total stake value of $57.9 billion.

Alex Haissl at Redburn Partners holds a Buy rating and a $440 price target on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares as of August 11.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is another big tech company on our list. It is based in Redmond, Washington.

Third Point Management made the following comment about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its second-quarter 2023 investor letter:

“While our gross equity exposure is still modest (below 100% on the long side), we have increased our nets to 70% as of this writing and 77% on a beta adjusted basis. About 45% of that net long exposure is composed of direct and indirect AI beneficiaries trading at reasonable valuations. We have sized up our investments in certain cloud software businesses including Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), a clear AI winner as a result of its rapidly growing Azure cloud business, upside from applying AI features to its core Office products, investment in Open AI, and ability to provide AI services to other companies (for example, Microsoft holds a stake in one of our portfolio companies, LSE, which it is also assisting in harnessing greater value in its data via AI).”

See also Starter Stock Portfolio: 15 Safe Stocks To Buy and 12 Dividend Kings To Buy For Safe Dividend Growth.