Warren Buffett is one of Wall Street's living legends, proving the strength of a value-driven approach to investing by his multi-billion dollar net worth. Much of his fortune has been built by adhering to this philosophy, purchasing companies at a discount to their intrinsic value, then just waiting for the stock to soar.
It's a simple enough strategy -- the challenge is in locating the right holdings. So it's fortunate for us that four times a year, we get a glimpse of what his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway
At the end of 2010, Berkshire Hathaway's equity portfolio was valued at $52.56 billion, up about 8 percent from $48.56 billion from September 30. The conglomerate holding company doesn't usually make large moves in its largest holdings from quarter to quarter, and the previous one was no exception.
In Q4 2010, Berkshire Hathaway increased its Wells Fargo
What did change, however, was the number of stocks held, down to 25 from 33 in the previous quarter. Notably missing from Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio in Q4 were Bank of America, Comcast, and Nike.
Here's a list of Berkshire Hathaway's top holdings. All of these holdings are current up to the end of 2010. (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)
Company |
Shares Held-09/30/2010 |
Shares Held-12/31/2010 |
% Change in Shares Held |
% of Portfolio at End of 2010 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Coca-Cola |
200,000,000 |
200,000,000 |
0.00% |
25.03% |
Wells Fargo & Company |
336,408,845 |
342,623,925 |
1.85% |
20.2% |
American Express |
151,610,700 |
151,610,700 |
0.00% |
12.38% |
Procter & Gamble |
76,766,036 |
76,766,036 |
0.00% |
9.4% |
Kraft Foods |
105,214,584 |
105,214,584 |
0.00% |
6.31% |
Johnson & Johnson |
42,624,563 |
42,624,563 |
0.00% |
5.02% |
Wal-Mart Stores |
39,037,142 |
39,037,142 |
0.00% |
4.01% |
Wesco Financial |
5,703,087 |
5,703,087 |
0.00% |
4.% |
ConocoPhillips |
29,109,637 |
29,109,637 |
0.00% |
3.77% |
US Bancorp |
69,039,426 |
69,039,426 |
0.00% |
3.54% |
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research. Note: The numbers on top of items represent the forward P/E ratio, if available.
Kapitall's Eben Esterhuizen and Alicia Sellitti do not own shares of any companies mentioned.