Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investors of all time. With his value investing style, Buffett has long been a proponent of using techniques like margin of safety to buy stocks for less than they are intrinsically worth.
Even if you don't consider yourself a value investor, Buffett's words of wisdom can help investors of all paths. For example, here's how some of Buffett's techniques might guide investors to purchase a stock like Alphabet (GOOG +1.99%) (GOOGL +1.71%), even though it's a more growth-oriented business.
Being a long-term investor is key
One key Buffett idea is to own the business, not the stock. As a shareholder, you are a part-owner of that business. Here's another way to see it: If you are the owner of your business, would you consistently trade in and out of it?
This thought brings me to one of Buffett's famous sayings: "If you aren't willing to own a stock for 10 years, don't even think about owning it for 10 minutes."
When analyzing and picking a stock to buy, you should be committed for the long haul. From a highly short-sided stance, Alphabet may have a tough few months. The economy seems to be headed for a recession. If one occurs, advertisers are likely to cut their marketing budgets. That would adversely affect companies with ad space to sell -- like Alphabet, which derives 80% of revenue from advertising.
NASDAQ: GOOG
Key Data Points
However, these fears go away when assessing Alphabet from a long-term mindset. Alphabet's primary platforms, Google and YouTube, are at the top of their respective industries and will continue to grow their revenues over the long haul with their premium advertising space. Furthermore, Alphabet's Google Cloud division will likely grow to generate significant revenue in an industry projected to be worth more than $1.6 trillion by 2030.
Expanding your investing horizons makes the bull case for many companies more evident, and makes the short-term noise easier to ignore.
When is the right time to buy?
Another famous Buffett quote is: "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." CNN's Fear & Greed index currently sits at 29, a level that indicates "fear" in the market.
Investors are worried about a potential recession, rising interest rates, and raging inflation. Of course, these are valid short-term concerns, but they also open up some great investment opportunities.
Returning to the Alphabet analysis, Alphabet's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has reached an all-time low.
Data by YCharts.
Its valuation is lower than that of many companies Buffett owns like Apple, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Heinz. Yet in its most recent quarter, Alphabet's revenue grew faster than any of the previously mentioned companies.
Data by YCharts.
There's a lot of fear in the market about Alphabet's outlook, and it's time for investors to get greedy.
The case for Alphabet's stock is strong when zooming out to a Buffett-like holding period. With strong cash flows ($15.3 billion during Q1 alone) and a great business model, Alphabet is poised to outperform the market. Buffett's principles can guide you through the analysis of any stock, be it growth or value.
Although Buffett doesn't own any Alphabet stock, he has repeatedly admitted that his failure to buy a stake in it was a mistake.
Right now, investors have the chance to scoop up Alphabet at a relatively low valuation. While the stock could do any number of things within the next year, over the long haul, the business's trajectory is pretty straightforward: Up. With that in mind, Alphabet is one of my top purchases in the market today.
