2 Top Buffett Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Haul

Warren Buffett is the quintessential long-term investor. He says that you shouldn't buy stocks unless you expect to hold them for a very extended period, and he has followed that approach with the companies he invests in through Berkshire Hathaway. He has held on to many stocks for decades.

Considering Buffett's approach, and his impressive track record, Berkshire's portfolio is a great place to get investment ideas. Here are two Buffett stocks worth checking out.

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1. Amazon

Berkshire owned 10 million shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) as of its 13F filing on May 15. Given Amazon's dominance over e-commerce, as well as its cloud services and use of artificial intelligence (AI), it's an excellent stock to buy and hold.

Amazon is the top online retailer in the world as measured by revenue, and even though this is an established company, it's still seeing good revenue growth. Net sales were $155.7 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a 9% year-over-year increase. Analysts expect the global e-commerce market to continue growing -- Grand View Research is projecting annual growth of 11.6% until 2030 -- which should mean plenty of growth to come for Amazon.

Online sales isn't the only place where Amazon is No. 1. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the top cloud service provider by market share, with 30% of the global market at the end of 2024.

Last but not least, Amazon has been leveraging generative AI technology to improve efficiency for itself and its sellers. It currently has about 1,000 generative AI applications in use, including tools that drastically cut down the time it takes for sellers to list their products.

Despite being one of the largest companies in the world, Amazon is still focused on innovation and expansion. I think it's a quality investment right now and will continue to be 10 and 20 years down the road.

2. Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is one of the companies that Buffett has held for more than a decade. He started investing in 2011, and Berkshire now owns 8.3 million shares, good for just over 1% of its stock holdings.

As a payment network, Visa has a simple, effective business model. When people pay with their Visa debit or credit cards, Visa collects a fee from the merchant. Credit card fees can be particularly lucrative, as they generally range from 1.1% to 3.15% of the transaction, according to data compiled by Motley Fool Money, a personal finance brand by The Motley Fool. Visa gets a portion of the fee, and the bank that issued the payment card gets the rest.

Visa is in a strong position thanks to its massive and entrenched payment network. It operates in more than 200 countries and processed 315.9 billion transactions in the 12-month period ending March 31, for $16.1 trillion in total volume. In most of the world, if a merchant accepts debit or credit cards, odds are that it accepts Visa.

It's no surprise that Buffett has made Visa a long-term investment. This is a fundamentally sound company with a wide moat and a stable balance sheet. It has plenty of cash, with $11.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31. Debt is $24.4 billion, with $16.8 billion of that being long-term debt, which is a reasonable amount for Visa's size.

Like Amazon, Visa's financials are also moving in the right direction. Net revenue was $9.6 billion for its second fiscal quarter of 2025, a 9% year-over-year increase, and payments volume was up 8%.

Amazon and Visa may be very different types of companies, but they have some commonalities that make them quality investments. They're both leaders in their industries that have been able to deliver consistent growth, and they have robust financials. Many of Buffett's stock picks have outperformed the market, and both of these companies have a strong possibility of doing so over the next several years.

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Lyle Daly has positions in Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.