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 (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) is betting on. By law, institutional investors overseeing north of $100 million in assets must file Form 13F with the SEC, a quarterly report making its holdings accessible to the general public. Given Buffett's knack for locating quality investments, his portfolio could offer some useful insight.

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 (NYSE: WFC) position about 2%, but maintained unchanged positions in Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), and Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT).

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 (NYSE: JNJ)

42,624,563

42,624,563

0.00%

5.02%

Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT)

39,037,142

39,037,142

0.00%

4.01%

Wesco Financial (NYSE: WSC)

5,703,087

5,703,087

0.00%

4.%

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP)

29,109,637

29,109,637

0.00%

3.77%

US Bancorp (NYSE: USB)

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.