I appreciate that Warren Buffett keeps us guessing. The longtime CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A +0.99%) (BRK.B +1.10%) is retiring at the end of this month, but he leaves a powerful legacy as one of the greatest investors to have ever lived.
Buffett has famously focused on companies that aren't flashy, such as those in the credit card, financial services, insurance, and consumer staples sectors, which are easily understood, undervalued, and have a strong competitive moat. Buffett made a significant amount of money with his investing philosophy, leading Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio to outperform the S&P 500 by far for the duration of his career.
But Buffett's also willing to change, and he's never one to leave the stocks of great companies on the table. So, it's interesting that in the final month of his career at Berkshire, the conglomerate is now holding some outstanding tech stocks that are at the forefront of the proliferation of artificial intelligence.
Even though Buffett is stepping down and the famed Berkshire portfolio is being taken over by one of his trusted lieutenants, Greg Abel, here are three stocks that you should have in your portfolio today. Hint: they all start with the letter "A" and, in my mind, are the very definition of an A-rated stock.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Alphabet: The newest pick
Berkshire Hathaway didn't open a position in Alphabet (GOOG 2.27%) (GOOGL 2.43%) until the third quarter. The purchase of nearly 18 million shares was disclosed in a regulatory filing in November, giving Berkshire a stake now worth more than $5.5 billion.
Alphabet has some traits that come directly from the Buffett playbook. It has a massive competitive moat, with a dominant 89% of internet search and a 71% web browser market share. That gives it fuel for its powerful advertising business, which generated $74.1 billion in the third quarter.
The massive cash influx enables Alphabet to invest in the infrastructure necessary for the growth of its Google Cloud computing division. Cloud computing is becoming more important because it's tremendously expensive to buy, cluster, and operate thousands of expensive semiconductor chips to run AI programs. Many companies are turning to cloud hyperscalers like Google as a solution, which is why Alphabet's Google Cloud revenue jumped 33% to $15.1 billion in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.
NASDAQ: GOOGL
Key Data Points
If Alphabet signs a rumored multi-billion-dollar deal with Meta Platforms to supply Meta data centers with its Google tensor processing units (an alternative to Nvidia's graphics processing units), then Alphabet may just be scratching the surface of its AI potential.
Amazon: E-commerce and cloud dominance
Berkshire Hathaway opened its position in Amazon (AMZN 0.67%) stock in early 2019. And Buffett has kept a position for nearly seven years now, it's notable that the conglomerate's stake of 10 million shares is significantly less than its stake in Alphabet, and is valued at $2.2 billion.
Given a choice between the two, I think that Alphabet is by far the superior stock, so it makes sense to me that Berkshire's investment is more than twice as much as its Amazon holdings.
Amazon fits the Buffett mold by having a dominant e-commerce business, holding a 40% market share in the U.S. market and $147.1 billion in revenue in the third quarter. The problem with the business is that it has a profit margin of only 4%. If there were a way for Amazon to achieve a margin of even a few percentage points higher, I think the stock would be significantly more appealing.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
But like Alphabet, Amazon has a cloud computing division, and it's much more profitable. Amazon Web Services (AWS) generated $33 billion in the third quarter, up 20% from a year ago. The 34% profit margin is more than attractive.
Apple: The biggest position
Berkshire Hathaway has owned Apple stock for nearly a decade, and it's by far the company's largest holding. Berkshire Hathaway owns 238.2 million shares of Apple stock, with a stake valued at $66 billion. Apple stock makes up more than 21% of Berkshire's entire portfolio.
But it used to be a lot more. Apple used to make up about half of Berkshire's portfolio, but Buffett and his team sold more than 680 million shares since 2023, including nearly 42 million shares in the third quarter.
Does this mean Apple's a bad stock? Not at all. It simply means that Buffett and his team believed the company needed to diversify its holdings -- and that's always good advice. You don't want any company to dominate your portfolio because it leaves you vulnerable to weakness in the company or the sector.
NASDAQ: AAPL
Key Data Points
Fortunately for Apple and its investors, the company had a strong 2025, with revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter (ended Sept. 27), up 8% from a year ago to $102.5 billion. Buffett appreciates Apple because its customers tend to be loyal, creating an ecosystem that includes smartphones, personal computers, wearable technology, and entertainment. Now, as Apple invests in Apple Intelligence, the AI tool that it incorporates into its computers, smartphones, and tablets, Apple has high hopes that AI will continue to make Apple a winning stock.
How to invest $10,000 into Buffett stocks
With your $10,000 investment split equally, you can get 10 shares of Alphabet Class A stock (the same class that Berkshire holds), 14 shares of Amazon stock, and 12 shares of Apple stock. That's a strong Buffett-approved way to invest in the tech sector -- and position your portfolio to profit from the growing AI transformation.
