Warren Buffett has famously said that his favorite holding period is "forever," but Berkshire Hathaway sells stocks all the time. Some of the stocks it has bought and sold in fairly quick succession over the past few years include:
- Ulta Beauty
- RH
- Floor & Decor
- Snowflake
- Nu Holdings
Keep in mind, that's just a partial list. When Buffett made this statement, back in 1988, he was talking specifically about Coca-Cola (KO +0.02%), which he had just bought. More recently, he's added American Express (AXP +0.16%) and Apple (AAPL 0.76%) to his list of stocks that he'd never sell. Let's see why these are three stocks to hold forever.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
1. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is the longest-held position in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. Buffett originally bought shares in 1988, when he made the following remark:
We made major purchases of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Pfd. (Freddie Mac) and Coca-Cola. We expect to hold these securities for a long time. When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.
Freddie Mac is long gone from the portfolio, but Coca-Cola remains, and it's currently the third-largest position, worth 9.4% of the total.
NYSE: KO
Key Data Points
Buffett has praised it many times over the years, and it fits into his investing schema in other ways. He loves its global brand and its place in the U.S. economy. He loves great management and a committed dividend. Coca-Cola is a Dividend King, and it recently raised its dividend for the 64th consecutive year. Since Berkshire Hathaway owns 400 million shares, it stands to make $848 million in dividends this year from Coca-Cola stock alone.
It's considered a safe stock, which is why it was beating the falling market earlier this year. It still is, even as the S&P 500 hits new highs.
2. American Express
American Express is the second part of what's traditionally been the duo of stocks that Buffett said he'd never sell. Buffett loves bank stocks because they have lots of cash, tend to be highly profitable, grow along with the economy, and are a major driver of the economy.
The Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio is flush with financial stocks at any given time, but American Express is a clear favorite, accounting for 15.6% of the total portfolio, the second-largest (and second-longest-held) position.
NYSE: AXP
Key Data Points
The company has a distinctive model that sets it apart from other banks and financial stocks. It charges an annual fee for most of its credit cards, creating a sense of exclusivity and fostering long-term loyalty. Members love its top rewards program, fueling a high renewal cycle. The rewards target an affluent population of consumers who can spend more in general and are more resilient under pressure, and American Express has industry-leading credit metrics.
The company is successfully targeting a new, younger cadre of customers who are fueling growth, and it has strong growth prospects for the foreseeable future.
3. Apple
Buffett recently added Apple as a stock he would hold forever, even though Berkshire Hathaway has cut its stake by half over the past few years. It's still the portfolio's largest position, accounting for 19.2% of the total. Buffett recently admitted that he sold it too soon, and that he'd buy more of it at a better price.
Apple has a solid ecosystem of interconnected products that make it difficult for challengers to gain a foothold. Last year, the market was down on Apple due to lagging artificial intelligence (AI) developments, but it has since changed its ways, as even slower AI hasn't loosened Apple's grip on its customers. iPhone sales increased 23% year over year in the fiscal 2026 first quarter, which ended Dec. 27, 2025, reigniting confidence in Apple and its stock.
NASDAQ: AAPL
Key Data Points
The company recently announced a deal to use Alphabet's Gemini large-language model (LLM) to train Apple's own data and fuel its AI systems at a cost of $1 billion annually. That's a much more cost-efficient way to develop AI and offer Apple users high-level AI services for a fraction of the cost of its competitors, and it paves a path for Apple to become a top AI stock.
But Apple has demonstrated that beyond the latest fads, which today is AI, it has long-term staying power and a brand that lasts.
