Warren Buffett once said that his "favorite holding period is forever." His successor, Greg Abel, might seem to have a much shorter preferred holding period, based on Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA +0.06%) (BRKB 0.09%) investment activity in the first quarter of 2026.
With Abel at the helm, Berkshire completely exited a whopping 16 positions in Q1. Such a flurry of selling was practically unheard of during Buffett's tenure as CEO. And two of the stocks that Abel dumped were especially big surprises.
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Berkshire's not-so-sweet 16
Liberty is in shorter supply in Berkshire's portfolio after Abel's Q1 moves. He sold all of Berkshire's stakes in Liberty Latin America Class A (LILA +0.39%), Liberty Latin America Class C (LILAK +0.00%), and Liberty Media's Formula One Group Series C (FWONK 0.96%) tracking stock. Berkshire also exited its position in Atlanta Braves Holdings (BATRK +0.00%), which was previously a Liberty Media tracking stock.
Abel ditched several financial stocks. Berkshire's new CEO authorized the full sale of risk, retirement, and health solutions provider Aon (AON 0.35%). Credit card processing giants Mastercard (MA 1.11%) and Visa (V 0.18%) are also gone from the conglomerate's portfolio.
A couple of food and beverage stocks were among the positions Berkshire exited in Q1. British alcoholic beverage maker Diageo (DEO 0.24%) has been part of the portfolio since the first quarter of 2023. Domino's Pizza (DPZ 1.02%) was an even shorter-lived position, with Berkshire initiating a new position in the third quarter of 2024.
Berkshire had not owned several other stocks that Abel dumped in Q1 for very long. The conglomerate first purchased Heico (HEIA +0.00%) and Pool Corp. (POOL 0.12%) in 2024. It initiated positions in Allegion (ALLE 0.19%), Lamar Advertising (LAMR +0.00%), and UnitedHealth Group (UNH 0.48%) in 2025.
However, not all of the positions exited last quarter were relatively recent purchases. Charter Communications (CHTR 0.24%) had been in Berkshire's portfolio since 2016, and Amazon (AMZN +1.08%) since 2019.
The two most surprising exits
There's one theory as to why Abel decided to sell these 16 stocks that makes sense to me. These stocks could have all been positions managed by Todd Combs, who served for years as one of Buffett's two investment managers. However, Combs left Berkshire at the beginning of 2026 to join JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.38%). I think that two of the positions exited in Q1 were still surprising, though.
Buffett has praised Amazon in the past. He even once said that he had "been an idiot for not buying" the stock earlier. Amazon has a strong moat in e-commerce. It's the top provider of cloud services. Amazon has been a solid winner for Berkshire, too.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
There were only two caveats to Buffett's favorite holding period being forever. First, the companies must have "outstanding businesses." Second, they must have "outstanding managements." Amazon checks off both boxes.
UnitedHealth Group is the other surprising full sale, in my opinion. The health insurance stock seems to be exactly what Buffett (and, presumably, Abel) prefers to own. UnitedHealth generates strong cash flow. It's cheaper than it has been historically because of temporary headwinds.
NYSE: UNH
Key Data Points
Are Amazon and UnitedHealth stocks buys?
I fully understand that Abel may have wanted to do some portfolio housecleaning, especially with stocks that Combs formerly managed. The 16 stocks sold also weren't huge positions for Berkshire.
However, it's a mistake for other investors to sell any of these stocks just because Buffett's successor did. I think Amazon and UnitedHealth Group are excellent stocks to buy, not sell.
Amazon has significant growth opportunities as artificial intelligence (AI) adoption continues. The company is preparing to launch its Amazon Leo satellite internet service later this year. I expect Leo to be a solid growth driver.
UnitedHealth Group should continue to recover from the higher-than-expects medical costs experienced last year. The company avoided a major problem when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized Medicare Advantage rates that were significantly higher than the preliminary numbers proposed. I think that UnitedHealth remains a quintessential Buffett stock.
To paraphrase an old saying, "One person's trash is another person's treasure." Abel has thrown Amazon and UnitedHealth to the curb, but both stocks could make other investors plenty of money over the long term.
