Warren Buffett has a great talent for growing piles of money. As CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, he delivered an extraordinary 4,384,748% return to shareholders over the last 59 years, which works out to an annualized return of 20% -- double the S&P 500's return.
If you have $300 to invest right now, you could do a lot worse than selecting a few stocks from Berkshire's $284 billion stock portfolio. It's filled with industry-leading businesses that benefit from durable competitive advantages -- one of the things Buffett looks for in every investment.
Here are two solid Buffett-approved stocks to invest in right now.
1. Amazon
Amazon (AMZN +1.29%) is a relatively small position for Berkshire Hathaway, with the company holding 10 million shares in the second quarter worth about $1.8 billion at current share prices. Berkshire has held a position in the online tech titan since 2019.
Amazon benefits from a wide economic moat. It has over 200 million Prime members, profitable revenue streams from advertising and subscription services, and the leading enterprise cloud service in Amazon Web Services.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
The common denominator that explains its success in retail and cloud computing is the company's customer-focused culture. When businesses were pulling back on cloud spending in 2022, Amazon helped those companies get the most out of their cloud budget. This goes a long way in building long-term relationships with these customers, and it appears to be paying off with AWS revenue growth accelerating in 2024.
Amazon is a very large business with $604 billion in revenue across all segments, but it can still grow for years. This is noted by the AWS segment's 19% year-over-year growth in revenue last quarter, which makes up most of the company's operating profit, not to mention a growing $6 trillion global e-commerce market, according to eMarketer.
The stock currently trades at around $176, so an investor with $300 can easily afford to buy one share of this outstanding growth stock.
2. Coca-Cola
Berkshire Hathaway is one of Coca-Cola's (KO +0.50%) largest shareholders. It owns 9% of the company's shares outstanding, and it's one of Buffett's longest-held investments in Berkshire's stock portfolio. Buffett originally bought Coke stock over 35 years ago, and shares now total 400 million after several stock splits.
Coca-Cola's competitive advantage is based on its powerful consumer brand. People consume 800 billion servings of the company's brands every year. That number should increase as Coca-Cola continues to push for more growth across emerging and developed markets.
NYSE: KO
Key Data Points
The beverage king spends over $7 billion annually in marketing expenses. Coca-Cola owns 200 brands, including Sprite, Minute Maid, and Powerade, providing ample sales opportunities in a global non-alcoholic beverage market valued at $1.5 trillion, according to Statista.
Selling relatively affordable products in mass volume is a very profitable business. Most of the company's revenue comes from selling concentrate, or syrup, to bottlers to create the finished product. This is why Coca-Cola earns a stellar 23% profit margin.
Coca-Cola has reported a series of strong earnings reports this year that have pushed the stock to new highs. The shares currently trade around $72, but the company's above-average dividend yield of 2.69% suggests it is still reasonably priced to earn satisfactory returns over the long term.
