Billionaire Warren Buffett Says He Sold His Favorite Stock "Too Soon." Should Investors Back Up the Truck?

Very few investors can boast the returns that Warren Buffett and his company Berkshire Hathaway have generated over six decades. That's why, when Buffett speaks, investors listen, even though the Oracle of Omaha is now 95 years old and no longer the CEO of Berkshire.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Buffett said he sold one of his favorite stocks "too soon." Should investors back up the truck?

More clarity on this large Berkshire Hathaway position

For roughly a decade now, Berkshire's stock portfolio has had a large position in the iconic consumer tech company Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Berkshire first purchased the stock in 2016, supposedly after seeing how distraught one of his friends was after losing his iPhone.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Since purchasing the stock, Apple has performed superbly, and Berkshire bought the stock heavily for a time. At one point, Berkshire's Apple position accounted for roughly 40% of its total portfolio. But in recent years, Berkshire has sold a sizable chunk of its Apple stake. At the end of 2025, Apple was still its largest position, accounting for 23%.

Until recently, it was unclear whether Berkshire would continue selling down its Apple stake, as the company is not known for simply trimming stakes. However, earlier this year, new Berkshire CEO Greg Abel, in his first annual letter to shareholders, named Apple as one of the core Berkshire positions that it expects to have limited activity moving forward.

In the CNBC interview, Buffett acknowledged that he sold Apple "too soon," but also said: "I'm very happy to have it be our largest holding." Buffett also shed light on why Berkshire pared its position, saying: "I was not happy to have it be as large as almost everything else combined."

Buffett added that if Apple stock were to keep declining, Berkshire would consider buying a lot more of it, "but not in this market." Finally, Buffett praised Apple's CEO Tim Cook for the job he's done at Apple, and his ability to get along with "everybody in the world."

Should investors back up the truck?

If you're an Apple shareholder, Abel's letter and now Buffett's public support of the company should feel pretty good. Like most "Magnificent Seven" stocks this year, Apple has struggled and is down over 6%.

Apple has had a slightly different experience than its peers, however. It doesn't yet have a clear or focused artificial intelligence strategy, and therefore hasn't committed to hundreds of billions in capital expenditures to build out AI infrastructure. This wait-and-see approach has given the stock fewer gains amid the AI bull rally, but also less downside as AI concerns have mounted.

The consumer tech giant has also had to navigate President Donald Trump's tariffs because it makes most of its flagship iPhones in China. While the most recent iPhone 17 has delivered very strong sales so far, there are broader questions about whether the new model is really innovative or simply more of the same.

Analysts are largely bullish that Apple will soon enter the AI revolution. Earlier this year, Apple partnered with Google's Gemini to provide AI models to power many AI features at Apple, including an overhaul of Apple's digital assistant Siri.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives also believes Apple has an opportunity to sell AI products and services, likely through a subscription model, to the 2.5 billion users of its iOS operating system on its iPhone and other Apple devices.

Apple is also likely to continue returning an extraordinarily large amount of capital to shareholders while retaining a strong moat in the device ecosystem. While the future remains uncertain, especially in regards to AI, I think investors can continue to follow Buffett and Abel's advice and buy the stock.

Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway and is short shares of Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.