We recently published a list of 10 Best Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Warren Buffett. In this article, we are going to take a look at where DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) stands against other best stocks to buy according to billionaire Warren Buffett.
Known and admired for his success, wealth and philanthropy, Warren Buffett is still at the helm of his diversified holding company. From a struggling New England textile company in the 1960s, Buffett has grown Berkshire to a firm boasting a range of businesses from Geico insurance to BNSF Railway, an equity portfolio exceeding $267 billion, and a cash reserve of $334.20 billion at the end of 2024.
Given his success on the investment horizon – a result of decades of strong returns – it doesn’t come as a surprise that Buffett is often touted as one of the greatest investors of all time. In an attempt to mirror his trading activity, many investors search for what stocks is Warren Buffett buying today.
READ ALSO: Warren Buffett’s Portfolio: 15 Longest Held Stocks and 10 Stocks Warren Buffett and Insiders Are Crazy About.
The Oracle of Omaha focuses on companies with strong economic moats and undervalued assets, applying his well-known investment strategy – long-term value investing. Buffett is not that fond of diversification, as he is investing in businesses instead of stocks, picking those he understands.
While diversification as a risk mitigation technique is popular among those who are at the start of their investing journey, Buffett believes diversification could limit knowledge. He also doesn’t consider money the greatest investment tool, given his statement that “the best investment by far is anything that develops yourself, and it’s not taxed at all.”
Despite the strong market performance throughout much of 2024, Buffett appears to have taken a more cautious approach. With overinflated valuations due to high interest rates and deteriorating economic conditions in mind, he opted to sell off substantial stakes in companies whose valuations have become too high.
Buffett is also not fond of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports that sent shockwaves through global stock markets, even though his company’s Class B shares dipped 1.4% only on April 3, outperforming the broader market.
In the fourth quarter, Buffett’s 13F portfolio was comprised of a total of 38 security holdings and was worth roughly $267 billion, slightly up from $266 billion in the third quarter. Given that Buffett doesn’t like to diversify much, his top ten holdings account for nearly 90% of his 13F portfolio.
Our Methodology
To make the list of Warren Buffett’s top portfolio holdings we reviewed Berkshire’s fourth-quarter 2024 portfolio and ranked the list according to the hedge fund’s stake value in each firm. If there was an overlap, we prioritized the holding that was worth more money. We have also assessed the number of shares acquired by Berkshire Hathaway and hedge fund sentiment toward each stock from Insider Monkey’s database of hedge investor letters.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
That said, please see if there are overlaps between our compilation of the 10 longest-held stocks by The Oracle of Omaha wrapped up in November, and a new list of Warren Buffett’s top portfolio holdings.
Clinical laboratory technicians running tests in the comprehensive kidney care services.
DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)
Portion of portfolio: 2.02%
Value of holdings: $5,398,092,493
As one of the leading providers of kidney care services, DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) holds more than 36% of the market share in the dialysis market in the United States. The company provides both in-center and at-home dialysis alternatives utilizing its extensive network of dialysis facilities in the country and internationally. The company also offers ancillary services like laboratory tests, pharmaceutical solutions, and illness management programs in addition to billing insurance companies like Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers.
Berkshire has owned shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA), one of the best healthcare stocks for long-term investment since the fourth quarter of 2011.
Buffett kept his investment in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) during the fourth quarter holding 36,095,570 of its shares, as per his hedge fund’s 13F filing on February 14, 2025. However, he sold 203,091 shares back to DaVita on February 11, followed by an additional sale of some 750,000 of the kidney care giant’s shares between February 14 and 19, thus reducing its stake in the company by about 2% to 35.14 million shares, worth $5.4 billion, reported Reuters.
While it’s one of Warren Buffett’s top portfolio holdings, the dialysis firm has faced investor skepticism after announcing weaker-than-expected guidance for 2025 on February 13, with full-year EPS of $10.20 to $11.30, below the $11.44 the Wall Street analysts were expecting on average. DaVita reported consolidated revenues of $3.295 billion for the fourth quarter of 2024, up from $3.146 billion in the same quarter of last year. Patient service revenues increased to $2.881 billion from $2.765 billion in the corresponding period of 2023. Operating income totaled $565 million, with adjusted operating income of $491 million. The company repurchased 2.3 million of its shares for $367 million at an average price of $156.46 per share in the fourth quarter. The company’s stock price dropped over 12% on the heels of the earnings announcement.
DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)’s stock price stood at $140.47 per share on April 24, at the time of writing of this article. Year-to-date, the company’s stock lost 6.07% in value.
Overall, DVA ranks 10th on our list of best stocks to buy according to billionaire Warren Buffett. While we acknowledge the potential of DVA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DVA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
