Legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett announced recently that he'll step down from leading his company at the end of this year. At 94, Buffett finally deserves a little time off.
Over the years, Berkshire has accumulated more than 30 stocks in its $280 billion portfolio, giving investors plenty of options to choose from when looking for a few Buffett favorites. Here are two companies in the company's vast portfolio that look like no-brainer buys right now.
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1. Amazon
Amazon (AMZN 1.62%) has been a popular stock for many years, but there's still plenty to like about the company's long-term prospects. Take, for example, Amazon's dominance in e-commerce. The company has about 38% of the U.S. e-commerce market and no other competitor is close. Retail juggernauts Walmart and Target have made online shopping strides lately and yet they only have 6% and 2% of the e-commerce market, respectively.
Amazon's North American e-commerce sales rose 8% in the first quarter to $93 billion, proving the company still knows how to get current customers to spend more. And with an estimated 180 million Amazon Prime members in the U.S. alone, there's little worry that the company's best e-commerce days are behind it.
Still, there's plenty more to Amazon than just its online marketplace. The company is also the leading cloud computing platform, with its Amazon Web Services (AWS) holding 30% market share compared to its next-closest competitor, Microsoft, holding 21%.
There's no shortage of demand for cloud services, with AWS sales rising 17% in the first quarter to $29 billion. AWS is also more profitable on an operating income basis than Amazon's e-commerce business -- with the segment having more than double Amazon's e-commerce operating income. All signs point to more growth for cloud computing as well, with artificial intelligence estimated to boost global cloud sales to $2 trillion by 2030.
What's more, Amazon's advertising segment has grown into a substantial business over the years. The company's ad segment saw sales rise 18% in the first quarter, reaching $13.9 billion, making it Amazon's fastest-growing revenue segment. Research from eMarketer estimates that Amazon's share of the U.S. digital ad market will continue to grow, too, reaching 17% by 2027.
2. American Express
American Express (AXP 1.18%) is a longtime Buffett favorite and is Berkshire Hathaway's second-largest holding after Apple. The company's financial performance has been strong lately, with sales rising 7% in the first quarter (which ended March 31) to nearly $17 billion. The company is very profitable as well, as earnings per share jumped 9% to $3.64 in the quarter.
And there are likely more good times ahead. American Express' leadership says that the company's revenue will rise 9% this year at the midpoint of guidance and earnings per share will be about $15.25.
Some investors may be concerned about how a potential economic slowdown could impact American Express, but there's some indication that the company would be less impacted than other credit-based companies. On a recent earnings call, American Express CEO Stephen Squeri said: "As our customer base has grown over the past several years, it has gotten even more premium. Our card members at high incomes are loyal, high spending, and have excellent credit profiles."
That's good news for the company, and it comes as some economists have recently backed away from their previous worst-case scenarios for the economy. For example, after President Donald Trump's tariffs were announced, J.P. Morgan increased the likelihood of a recession occurring this year to 60%. But once some tariffs were ratcheted down, the bank lowered the odds to 40%.
Take Buffett's investing approach
Buying stocks in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio is only the first step to investing like Buffett. The second, and arguably the most important, is to hold on to these stocks for years. That means if there are a few bad quarters, you're not tempted to hit the sell button. And with the market experiencing a volatile year so far, remembering this buy-and-hold approach is more important than ever.
