The CAPS Screen: 5 Warren Buffett Stocks

Recs

7

Warren Buffett made his vast fortune buying companies with wide and durable "moats" -- long-term, sustainable competitive advantages. His Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) purchases companies that have the ability to keep competitors at bay and thus maintain unusually high levels of profitability.

With that in mind, I used our new CAPS screening tool to find potentially Buffettesque opportunities, those highly profitable companies on which the CAPS investing community is the most bullish. Below are five companies with returns on equity above 15%.

They also have:

  • Market caps greater than $10 billion
  • Trailing three-yr EPS growth rate about 10%
  • Price-to-earnings multiple below 20
  • Four- or five-star ratings, the highest possible, from our CAPS community

Remember, in the first year for which we have data, four-star companies have outperformed with an average gain of 17%. Five-stars did even better.

Company

Share Price

Sector

Market Cap (in billions)

General Electric (NYSE: GE)

$28.00

Conglomerates

$279.2

Honeywell (NYSE: HON)

$50.86

Industrial goods

$37.7

Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO)

$43.53

Basic materials

$30.8

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH)

$23.58

Health care

$29.0

China Petroleum & Chemical (NYSE: SNP)

$96.95

Basic materials

$84.0

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of July 17.

But for Buffett, as for all smart investors, hunting for the most profitable investments doesn't end with just a screen. Like Sir Mix-a-Lot, he knows that uncovering stocks with the biggest moats requires due diligence. Come and join us on Motley Fool CAPS to let the collective wisdom of our 110,000-strong CAPS community help you make your investment decisions.

For more Foolery:

Closed for 15 months – opening 10 days only! Get notified ahead of time as our expert portfolio manager invests $1 MILLION in the best opportunities from across The Motley Fool’s premium investment services. This is the first open since August 2008, by invitation only. Enter email below.

Ilan Moscovitz doesn't own any of the companies mentioned in this article. Though green, round, and soft, apparently avocado is a fruit. UnitedHealth Group and Berkshire are Inside Value and Stock Advisor selections. The Motley Fool owns shares of Berkshire. Both fruit and vegetable, The Fool's superfood disclosure policy is good for the mind, body, and soul.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Compare Brokers

TD AMERITRADE
more info
ShareBuilder
more info
Power E*Trade

more info
Scottrade
more info
Fool Disclosure

DocumentId: 688671, ~/Articles/ArticleHandler.aspx, 11/8/2009 3:12:58 PM

Report This Comment

Use this area to report a comment that you believe is in violation of the community guidelines. Our team will review the entry and take any appropriate action.

Sending report...

The Must-Read Story on Fool.com
Which Companies Can Buy It Like Buffett?

Related Tickers

11/6/2009 4:00 PM
GE $15.33 Up +0.90 +6.24%
General Electric C… CAPS Rating: ****
BRK-A $102400.00 Up +500.00 +0.49%
Berkshire Hathaway… CAPS Rating: *****
BRK-B $3425.00 Up +30.00 +0.88%
Berkshire Hathaway… CAPS Rating: *****
MRO $33.68 Up +0.05 +0.15%
Marathon Oil Corp CAPS Rating: *****
SNP $88.34 Down -0.08 -0.09%
China Petroleum &… CAPS Rating: *****
UNH $28.67 Up +0.46 +1.63%
UnitedHealth Group… CAPS Rating: *****
HON $37.70 Up +0.11 +0.29%
Honeywell Internat… CAPS Rating: ****

Community: Investing Wiki

Term Of The Hour

Annuity: An annuity is a contract between an insurance company and a person that provides for periodic payments to the individual or designated beneficiary in return for an investment.

Want to learn more or edit this definition?
Click here to read more!