Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett is a value investor, right? Everyone knows that!

Well, don't tell that to Gerald Martin and John Puthenpurackal of American University and UNLV. In 2008, the two completed what they call "the first rigorous examination of Berkshire Hathaway’s investment performance" -- a paper that analyzed not only Buffett’s superior investment performance, but also looked at his investing style.

Besides concluding that Buffett's superior investment returns since 1976 were more than just luck -- as if we didn't know that already! -- Martin and Puthenpurackal concluded that Warren Buffet is ... wait for it ... a large-cap growth investor.

To define growth in this context, the researchers separated value and growth stocks based on the inverse of book value multiples, then classified value stocks as those with the highest book-to-market ratio and growth stocks as those with the lowest. According to the paper, growth stocks accounted for more than 40% of Berkshire's investments, while true value picks made up less than 20% of Buffett's buys.

But let's not get too crazy here. After all, Buffett is still very much a value investor by his own definition -- that is, he only buys stocks that offer a discount to the company's intrinsic value. But what this study does suggest is that if we're looking for Buffett-esque stocks, our best bet is to look for high-quality companies rather than rummage through the bargain bin.

To track down some stocks that might fit the bill, I've enlisted the help of The Motley Fool's CAPS community and its stock screener. I focused my search on stocks that are returning 10% or more on their equity, are trading above book value, and have been highly rated by the CAPS community members (you can run the same screen by clicking here).

Company

Return on Equity (trailing 12 months)

Book Value Multiple

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE)

19.8%

2.8

****

Altria (NYSE:MO)

174.0%

11.8

*****

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM)

40.0%

3.1

****

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

13.5%

2.2

****

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)

23.1%

2.4

*****

Source: CAPS as of April 2.

While these aren't meant to be formal recommendations, they're a great place to kick off some more research. In fact, why don't we start by taking a closer look at Intel.

The anatomy of a growth stock
The Internet bubble may be well behind us, but computing power and technology continue to be chief ingredients for economic growth. All over the world, computers are making machines more efficient and workers more productive. And if you've ever built a computer yourself, you likely know that most of the cost comes from two elements -- the processor and the software.

On both of these pieces, we're more than likely to think of the same two names -- Intel and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Of the many reasons why Intel will continue to dominate the processor space for a long time to come, I believe there's one that towers over the rest. Because the CPU is basically the CEO of a computer, customers want to be sure that the chips are stable, reliable, and will do exactly what they need them to do. Intel has a history and brand that inspires -- to pull those three attributes into a word -- trust. It's that trust that makes customers continue to prefer Intel processors over competitors by a wide margin.

Now, we can't completely ignore Intel's biggest competitor. Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) has generally done a fairly good job sparring with Intel and has created some solid chips of its own. However, being the scrappy competitor still leaves AMD with a significant mountain to climb if it wants to unseat the champ.

Intel may not be at a peak five-star rating on CAPS, but more than 6,000 CAPS members have given the stock a thumbs-up, outweighing the thumbs-down crowd by nearly 12-to-1. One of these Intel fans is luckybaer66, who recently chimed in with:

Dominating market position, solid balance sheet, cutting edge processors, and stable management add up to a long-term winner. Intel holds the CPU performance crown, and has held it since the release of their "Core2Duo" processors. Their "tick-tock" method of product development and rollout has run like... well... clockwork. AMD lacks the scale to be a consistent threat in the performance arena and is forced to compete primarily on price and power efficiency. Their only hope is for Intel to fall asleep at the switch - like in the dying days of the Pentium 4.

CAPS or bust
But here's the real question: What do you think of Intel's prospects? Let the CAPS community know what you think by sharing your opinion with the 130,000 investors already participating.

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