Warren Buffett is one of the most closely followed and studied investors in history. Since 1965, he’s led investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and helped generate an overall return of 4,384,748%.
It’s fair to say that Buffett knows a thing or two about picking stocks. Some of the hallmarks of Buffett’s portfolio include financial services, energy businesses, and consumer goods companies. By contrast, one sector that Buffett notably stayed away from for years is technology.
However, in 2016, the Oracle of Omaha made a splash by revealing a massive position in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Less than a decade later, the iPhone maker is now Buffett’s largest position — worth roughly $135 billion and accounting for nearly 41% of his total portfolio.
Let’s dig into why Buffett loves Apple stock so much, and assess if now is a good time for investors to scoop up some shares.
Buffett’s investment philosophy is surprisingly simple
You don’t need to be good at picking individual stocks to mimic Buffett’s success. In fact, much of Buffett’s investment philosophy revolves around exercising patience and discipline as opposed to trying to identify the “next big thing.”
Besides Apple, some of Buffett’s largest positions include Coca-Cola, American Express, Occidental Petroleum, Bank of America, and Chevron. The first key item to recognize here is that Buffett is well diversified.
What’s more important, however, is taking a look at how long Buffett has owned some of these companies. For example, Buffett has owned Coca-Cola stock since 1988. Although Coca-Cola may be seen by many as a mundane business, Buffett has enjoyed generous returns over the decades thanks to Coca-Cola’s reliable, steady growth and dividend program.
Apple is a bit of a different story, though. Buffett has owned Apple stock for less than a decade, and yet it’s already ballooned into his largest position.
Clearly, Apple has experienced outsize price appreciation in recent years. Now, with artificial intelligence (AI) taking the spotlight in the technology sector, could investors be looking at a generational…
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