We recently published a list of 10 Cheap Value Stocks to Invest in According to Warren Buffett. In this article, we are going to take a look at where The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) stands against other cheap value stocks to invest in according to Warren Buffett.
Has Warren Buffett given up on stocks amid overstretched valuations? That’s the big question, as the “Oracle of Omaha” has been a net seller in recent months. Buffett and his top advisors, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, have sold $166.2 billion, more stock than they have bought over the last eight reported quarters.
The selloff spree has seen Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile swell to over $325 billion, with more than $288 billion invested in Treasuries. The adjustments come amid growing concerns that the stock market has become pricey, making it difficult to find anything of value to buy at discounted valuations.
Some of the selloffs also came amid concerns that corporate income taxes would climb with the continuation of a democrat administration. However, that is not expected to happen with Republicans controlling both houses of Congress and Donald Trump at the helm.
READ ALSO: 10 Best Blue Chip Stocks to Buy for 2025 and Billionaire Israel Englander’s Top 10 Stock Picks Heading Into 2025.
While Buffett has been a net seller in recent months, the actions point to the billionaire investor accumulating capital to pursue cheap stocks once the current correction ends. An optimist in his own right, Buffett has always insisted that even the worst recessions are only temporary and investors can find silver linings at depressed valuations.
While the stock market is still on an upswing, a fantastic buy opportunity should emerge when stock prices fall, according to the billionaire investor.
“[I]n the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank,” he explained. “In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price,” Buffett said.
Warren Buffett, “the Oracle of Omaha,” will go down in history as one of the most effective and successful value investors of all time. In the six decades that he has graced the ups and downs of Wall Street, his investment and holding company Berkshire Hathaway has cumulatively gained 5,500,000%. The fact that the investment firm is up by about 115% over the past five years affirms why Buffett is still a force to reckon with.
Nevertheless, the billionaire investor known for a value investing strategy that focuses on buying undervalued securities and holding them long-term appears to be slowly exiting the active investing fray. The 94-year billionaire investor has already named his middle son, Howard Buffett, his successor. Howie is tasked with steering the multibillion-dollar conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway as a non-executive chairman.
When asked why he settled on Howie, Buffett was clear: “He is getting it because he’s my son. I’m very, very, very lucky in the fact that I trust all three of my children,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
As Warren Buffett exits the stage, all eyes are on Howie to ensure Berkshire Hathaway, with over $1 trillion, continues to thrive. The holding company with one of the most diversified investment portfolios has enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of 19.8% compared to 10.2% for the S&P 500 since 1965. Diversification has proved to be a compelling investment play that has allowed Berkshire Hathaway to spread risk and, most importantly, shrug off volatility in some sectors.
While the US stock market has shown signs of exhaustion, resulting in significant pullbacks, Warren Buffett, an eternal optimist, has frequently advised against betting against America. He acknowledges that stock market corrections and US recessions are natural parts of economic cycles. Still, he believes that bull markets and periods of economic growth tend to last longer than downturns.
This belief underpins his continued bullish stance on the US stock market, even as valuations seem stretched after two years of strong rallies driven by the AI boom and a resilient economy. Despite high valuations, Buffett continues to add to positions he believes will outperform while trimming others.
Even though Buffett has been a net seller over the past two years, he has continued to bolster holdings in stocks that he believes are fairly valued. Consequently, according to Warren Buffett, the 10 cheap value stocks to invest in are those of time-tested businesses well poised to generate significant shareholders in the long run.
Our Methodology
To make the list of 10 cheap value stocks to invest in according to Warren Buffett, we scanned Berkshire Hathaway’s investment portfolio. The focus was on stocks trading with a forward price-to-earnings multiple of less than 15, as of January 10. We then settled on the top ten holdings with low P/E and examined why they stand out as value investments. Finally, we ranked the stocks in ascending order based on Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in them.
At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A closeup of an assembly line worker inspecting a newly produced jar of condiments and sauces.
The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)
Forward Price to Earnings Ratio: 9.15
Berkshire Hathaway Stake Value: $11.43 Billion
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 38
The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) is a packaged foods company that manufactures and markets food and beverage products. Its products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products. While the stock was down by about 24% in 2024, its fortunes have received a significant increase in the aftermath of the Fed cutting interest rates. The cuts positively impact consumer purchasing power by reducing borrowing costs.
The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) is well-known for its wide range of well-known food and drink brands, which include Philadelphia, Heinz, Kraft, and Jell-O, among many others. The company has a devoted global customer base thanks to its reputation for producing high-quality food products. Wall Street predicts Kraft Heinz will return to its previous level of profitability with steady, low-single-digit growth. The growth would be fueled by strong consumer spending demand amid a resilient US economy.
The company currently stands out as a cheap value stock to invest in owing to its 5.39% dividend yield, which is above the industry average of 4%.
Mairs & Power also highlighted efforts made by The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:
“We added The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) to the Fund in the quarter. Kraft Heinz is a leading global food company which possesses a portfolio of iconic brands, including its eponymous ketchup brand. The company has been undergoing an operational transformation focused on driving efficiency gains in supply chain, manufacturing and distribution. These efficiency gains have fueled increased investments in technology, automation, innovation and marketing, which should ultimately drive more consistent organic revenue growth and high single digit earnings per share growth. We expect above-average long-term returns, buoyed by consistent free cash flow generation, opportunistic share repurchases and an attractive 4-5% dividend yield. A modest current valuation affords an ample margin of safety.”
Overall, KHC ranks 3rd on our list of cheap value stocks to invest in according to Warren Buffett. While we acknowledge the potential of KHC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than KHC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
