Warren Buffett and Greg Abel Just Bought 8 Stocks. Here's the Best of the Bunch.

Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) selling streak is over. For 14 consecutive quarters, the giant conglomerate was a net seller of stocks. However, Berkshire's 13F filing for the second quarter of 2026 revealed that it bought more shares of companies than it sold for the first time in over three years.

Officially, Berkshire's CEO, Greg Abel, is now responsible for deploying capital. But Warren Buffett continues to make investment decisions much as he did for more than six decades at the company's helm.

Buffett and Abel bought eight stocks in Q2. And one of them clearly stands out as the best of the bunch.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

A Q2 buying spree

While Berkshire Hathaway made eight purchases during the recent quarter, only one was for a brand-new position. The company initiated a small stake in D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) valued at less than $600,000 at the end of Q2. D.R. Horton isn't entirely new to Berkshire, though. Under Buffett's leadership, the conglomerate owned shares of the housing stock for a while before exiting the position last year.

Buffett and Abel also added to Berkshire's stake in one of D.R. Horton's rivals, Lennar (NYSE: LEN) (NYSE: LENB). Berkshire scooped up more of Lennar's Class A and Class B shares.

However, Berkshire's biggest move in Q2 was loading up on Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL). Buffett acknowledged in a July interview with CNBC that he was the mastermind behind a significant investment in Google's parent company. In the latest quarter, Berkshire upped its stake in Alphabet's Class A shares by 45% and increased its position in the company's Class C shares by a whopping 658%.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) was another significant Q2 purchase. Berkshire Hathaway increased its position in the airline stock by roughly 44%.

Last (and least), Berkshire modestly boosted its stakes in Macy's (NYSE: M) and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT). Even after the Q2 transactions, the two positions each make up 0.3% or less of Berkshire's overall portfolio.

What Buffett and Abel like about these eight stocks

Buffett hasn't been bashful about admitting that he made a mistake by not buying Alphabet stock years ago. He knows that the company is an advertising juggernaut thanks primarily to its dominance in the search engine market.

The "Oracle of Omaha" also understands the appeal of investing in the housing industry. That's evidenced by the Q2 purchases of D.R. Horton and Lennar, as well as Berkshire's recent acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison. The U.S. continues to have an imbalance between the supply and demand for new homes that works to the advantage of companies such as D.R. Horton, Lennar, and Taylor Morrison.

Buffett hasn't been a fan of airline stocks in the past. In 2007, he wrote to Berkshire shareholders that the U.S. airline industry was "a bottomless pit." So why buy more shares of Delta Air Lines now? The decision could reflect Abel's influence. However, it could also indicate that Buffett has changed his mind, at least in part, due to Delta's premium positioning in the aviation market.

The Macy's and New York Times positions are so small that they really don't matter very much. Perhaps Buffett's value investing background came to the forefront with adding more shares of Macy's. The retail stock was down 17% year-to-date at the beginning of Q2 and still trades at only 10.3 times forward earnings.

As for The New York Times, Buffett has always had a soft spot for the newspaper business. It doesn't hurt, either, that The New York Times has been quite successful in building its digital media operations.

The best of the bunch

I think that two stocks bought by Buffett and Abel in Q2 are hands-down the best of the bunch -- Alphabet's Class A and Class C shares. With these two share classes combined, Alphabet now ranks as Berkshire's fourth-largest position.

Don't underestimate the significance of Buffett personally spearheading the massive investment in Alphabet. His move wasn't just an attempt to remedy a mistake from years ago; Buffett almost certainly believes in Alphabet's long-term prospects, given the size of Berkshire's position in the company.

Alphabet is well-positioned in nearly every major technology poised to shape the future. Google Gemini is one of the top artificial intelligence (AI) models. Google Cloud is the fastest-growing of the big three cloud platforms. Waymo is the leader in autonomous ride-hailing. Google Quantum AI is one of a handful of companies at the forefront of quantum computing.

There's one more thing in Alphabet's favor, too: valuation. Its shares trade below 17 times forward earnings, the lowest multiple among the so-called "Magnificent Seven" stocks. Buffett and Abel undoubtedly view Google's parent company as a great opportunity for Berkshire to make money. They're probably right.

Keith Speights has positions in Alphabet and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, D.R. Horton, Lennar, and The New York Times Co. The Motley Fool recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.