After a legendary run spanning more than six decades, Warren Buffett has stepped away as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 0.33%)(BRK.B 0.33%). It's going to be hard not to associate Berkshire Hathaway with Buffett, but his impact will undoubtedly last long beyond his tenure.
Most notably, his investing philosophies will likely drive many of the company's decisions and continue to guide average investors' investment decisions.
One thing Buffett has always preached is the value of holding onto stocks for the long haul. And in that fashion, here are two Buffett stocks that I would hold onto forever.
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1. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola (KO +0.32%) is Berkshire Hathaway's fourth-largest holding, making up 9% of its stock portfolio. It's also one of Berkshire Hathaway's oldest holdings, having bought its first shares of Coca-Cola in 1988. Buffett once said that Berkshire Hathaway's favorite holding period is forever, and Coca-Cola seems to fit that philosophy.
Coca-Cola is a great long-term investment because it meets the recession-proof criteria by selling products that sell regardless of broader economic conditions. Whether the economy is flourishing or in a recession, people generally continue buying Coca-Cola products. They may shy away from the company's premium brands, but there's an option for all budgets.
NYSE: KO
Key Data Points
One of the smartest moves Coca-Cola made was going with an asset-light business where it doesn't sell its beverages directly. Instead, it sells syrups and concentrates to its bottling partners, which then handle distribution and retail partnerships. That's how Coca-Cola has managed to get distribution in virtually every part of the world.
Coca-Cola isn't a stock you should expect to deliver market-beating returns year in and year out, but it's a great choice for people looking for consistent, reliable income. With 63 years of consecutive dividend increases, it's a Dividend King (a company with at least 50 consecutive years of dividend increases), putting it in a category with only a couple of dozen companies.
As of this writing, Coca-Cola's dividend yield is around 2.9%, which is just below its average over the past 10 years.
KO Dividend Yield data by YCharts.
There are definitely companies with consistently higher yields than Coca-Cola's, but few have a dividend as safe as Coca-Cola's. If you're planning to hold a stock for the long term, it's a comfort to be able to hold shares with a reliable dividend that's grown for more than half a century.
2. Visa
Visa (V 0.52%) is a small part of Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio (0.9%), but it's one of its most thorough companies. As the world's largest payment processor, Visa checks off a major box that Buffett looks for in companies: a competitive moat.
Visa's competitive moat is its reach. More than 175 million merchants accept Visa, and in the 12 months leading up to Sept. 30, 2025, the company processed around $16.7 trillion in transactions.
Visa's reach is the gift that keeps giving thanks to the network effect. Merchants are inclined to accept Visa because it's the most widely held card in the world, and potential cardholders are inclined to want a Visa card because it's the most widely accepted card in the world.
NYSE: V
Key Data Points
Being able to grow organically without needing significant capital investments has worked wonders for Visa's financials. Its business model is fairly simple: Take a portion of every transaction that happens on its network. And once the infrastructure is in place, it doesn't have to increase its costs by much even as transaction volume on the network increases.
Visa will be a staple in the finance world for a long time, especially as the world begins to embrace and increasingly use digital payments. Between cards, digital wallets, and online commerce, more people globally are shying away from cash, and that plays right into Visa's strengths.
It continues to make the appropriate investments to ensure it stays ahead of the curve and remains the foundation for a lot of the world's payment ecosystem.
