Warren Buffett Has Beaten the Market Over a 60-Year Stretch. Here Are 3 of the Billionaire's Favorite Stocks.
Key Points
Coca-Cola, American Express, and Apple represent the core of Buffett's investment philosophy -- wide moats, durable brands, and loyal customers.
Despite trimming his Apple position in recent years, the tech giant remains Berkshire's largest equity holding at nearly 23% of the portfolio.
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Warren Buffett officially handed the CEO keys to Greg Abel at the end of 2025, but the Oracle of Omaha remains Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) executive chairman and its largest shareholder. His fingerprints are still all over the $284 billion equity portfolio.
Berkshire Hathaway's biggest stock holdings right now
Here's where Berkshire's portfolio stood as of Dec. 31, 2025. It filed its most recently released 13F filing on Feb. 17.
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| Company | Ticker | Sector | Portfolio Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) | AAPL | Technology | 22.6% |
| American Express (NYSE: AXP) | AXP | Financials | 20.5% |
| Bank of America | BAC | Financials | 10.4% |
| Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) | KO | Consumer Staples | 10.2% |
| Chevron | CVX | Energy | 7.2% |
Data source: Berkshire Hathaway's Feb 17, 2026 13f filing.
But what about his favorite stocks? Three of these names sit at the heart of Buffett's playbook, and each one shows what he actually means when he talks about a "wonderful business."
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Coca-Cola: The power of an unmatched global brand
An absolute must for Buffett is a large, durable competitive advantage -- a wide moat. Coca-Cola is a perfect example of a company with an incredible moat.
Coca-Cola has one of the most recognizable brands on the planet. That's something no competitor can easily disrupt. The company's global reach, the muscle memory of consumers reaching for that red can -- these are things that take decades and many billions of dollars to even attempt to replicate. And that is why Coca-Cola has been a core holding since 1988.
American Express: A recession-resistant cash machine
American Express is the kind of business that will always have a place in the market, no matter what sort of trends come and go. No matter what they're buying, when consumers swipe their Amex card to pay, the company also gets paid.
Unlike other payment networks, American Express is also a bank, which means it collects interest and card fees. And as it's a premium brand, its customers reliably spend more, default less, and stick around for the perks. It also means the company is more recession-resistant. Buffett began investing in American Express all the way back in 1964.
Apple: A consumer products company in disguise
Buffett is famously resistant to investing in technology companies, maintaining that he invests only in what he understands and that doesn't include tech. That's why, in 2016, when he invested in Apple, he made it clear that he wasn't abandoning his philosophy.
Apple is a consumer products company first and a tech company second. Apple has some of the most loyal customers in the world, not because the company's technology is the most advanced or the most novel, but because of the user experience and the brand itself.
And loyal customers who buy an updated iPhone or MacBook year in, year out mean Apple has a steady stream of essentially recurring revenue, something else Buffett looks for.
So even though Buffett trimmed the position in the final years of his tenure, Apple is still by far Berkshire's largest equity bet and one of Buffett's favorite stocks.
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Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends American Express, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Chevron. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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