In this article, we will take a look at Warren Buffett’s 10 Longest-Held Stocks.
‘The Oracle of Omaha’
Known as the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest and most prosperous value investors in history. During the booming stock market of the 1960s, the billionaire investor used his investment partnership to purchase Berkshire Hathaway, a struggling textile company in New England, which now stands as a global titan.
Buffett has often underlined the need to fully know the internal operations of a company before making any investments. His strategy focuses on finding companies with strong, scalable models that are ready for expansion and market leadership, as well as those that have much to gain from a subsequent increase in stock value. Both investors and market analysts have frequently praised this methodical, long-term investment strategy, particularly in light of Berkshire becoming one of the most recent non-tech companies to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
However, despite a generally strong market performance for much of 2024, Buffett appears to have shifted towards a more defensive stance. As interest rates climbed and economic conditions weakened, Buffett significantly reduced his holdings in companies experiencing rapid valuation increases. By late 2024, Berkshire had amassed over $325 billion in cash and cash equivalents, predominantly held in U.S. Treasury bills. This suggested that Berkshire avoided making major investments in popular stocks, even during periods of market optimism. That said, Warren Buffett’s decision to hoard cash might not be a random one. In fact, it mirrors strategies he has used in the past during previous financial downturns. As an example, the billionaire adopted a somewhat similar approach at the onset of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s and again in the lead-up to the 2007-2008 financial crisis. In both these instances, Buffett foresaw market turbulence and positioned Berkshire to navigate the challenges by maintaining substantial liquidity.
Warren Buffett’s Stance on Cryptocurrency
Warren Buffett has repeatedly stated that he is not a fan of cryptocurrency. During Berkshire’s 2018 annual shareholder meeting, Buffett called Bitcoin “probably rat poison squared.” In Berkshire’s 2022 shareholder meeting, the billionaire once again stated:
“If you told me you own all of the Bitcoin in the world and you offered it to me for $25, I wouldn’t take it because what would I do with it? I’d have to sell it back to you one way or another. It isn’t going to do anything.”
Recent reports, however, indicate that the Oracle of Omaha seems to be softening his stance on cryptocurrencies. Berkshire has invested in Nu Holdings, a digital banking company based in Brazil that supports the cryptocurrency market and operates its own platform. In a 2021 Series G funding round, Buffett’s company contributed $500 million, followed by another $250 million. Nubank Crypto, Nu’s cryptocurrency platform, was launched in 2022 and supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. Berkshire’s stake in Nu increased from 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 0.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2024.
Our Methodology
To create our list of Warren Buffett’s longest-held stocks, we analyzed his Q3 2024 investment portfolio and selected stocks that he has consistently held for the longest duration. These figures were sourced from the Insider Monkey Database.
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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR)
Warren Buffett’s First Major Purchase: 2016
Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Q3 2024: $914.5 million
Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is a well-known cable and broadband provider that serves both residential and business customers. Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) provides services such as voice, television, and internet. The company launched a multibillion-dollar Rural Construction Initiative to build new fiber-optic network infrastructure in underserved rural areas.
RBC Capital Markets maintained Charter Communications’ Sector Perform rating but revised its outlook on January 15, lowering the company’s price target from $390 to $380. In comparison to the firm’s previous estimate of 70,000 and the consensus estimate of 141,000, RBC Capital predicts Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) will incur larger residential internet net losses of 120,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024. That said, these updates are expected to have only a slight impact on Charter’s consolidated financials. RBC Capital expects the company to generate $13.9 billion in revenue, $5.7 billion in EBITDA, and $0.6 billion in free cash flow (FCF) in the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenue and EBITDA are in line with consensus estimates; however, FCF is lower than expected.
Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is also planning to buy Liberty Broadband in an all-stock transaction, which is expected to increase liquidity and direct ownership for Liberty Broadband shareholders. The transaction is expected to close in late June 2027.
9. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Warren Buffett’s First Major Purchase: 2016
Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Q3 2024: $69.9 billion
Few people are unfamiliar with the name Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the technology giant renowned for its flagship devices, such as the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch, as well as its diverse suite of services, such as iCloud and Apple Music. Given the 2.2 billion Apple devices in the world, the company has a significant platform from which to introduce its AI services.
BofA analysts predict that strong initial demand for the iPhone 16 will drive Apple’s fiscal Q1 2025 results on January 30. However, due to fewer iPhone shipments, they expect a lower March quarter guidance. The bank predicts that iPhone sales will fall to 49 million units in the March quarter, less than the street consensus of 52 million and lower than their previous estimate of 56 million. Macroeconomic challenges and the delayed release of Apple Intelligence features, which analysts claim are “yet to gain widespread adoption,” are to blame. BofA reduced its iPhone sales projections for fiscal 2025 and 2026 from 239 million and 257 million units to 229 million and 246 million units, respectively. Despite this, the firm reiterates its Buy rating for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), citing “margin resiliency, tailwinds to gross margin, and strong cash flow.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported $94.9 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024, representing a 6% increase over the same period the previous year. Product revenue increased from $67 billion to nearly $70 billion in 2023. The company also reported $27 billion in operating cash flow and paid out $29 billion in dividends.
Greenlight Capital stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We continue to be concerned about the overall valuation of the market and have maintained a lower-than-average net market exposure. In fact, our daily correlation to the S&P 500 last year was 0.01. Cyclically and interest rate adjusted valuations are as high as we can remember.
A look at a prior favorite company of ours, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), shows that the stock at times sported a single digit P/E ratio and achieved 19.2% compounded revenue growth during the eight years we owned it. The last couple of years AAPL has had no revenue growth, but the P/E multiple has expanded from 22x to 37x. In this environment, we can’t say the multiple won’t expand to 45x a year from now. It might. But we don’t see why it should or what the investment appeal is at this valuation.”
