Warren Buffett stocks held Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) stocks are mostly leading the S&P 500 again this year — but you'll wish you owned a whole lot more of the winners. That's especially true as the S&P 500 falls into a correction.
XSix of Berkshire Hathaway's top 10 performing current holdings this year, including financial Wells Fargo (WFC), new holding Activision Blizzard (ATVI) and communications services T-Mobile US (TMUS), aren't among Buffett's largest 10 holdings by portfolio weight. This is based on an Investor's Business Daily analysis, using MarketSmith and S&P Global Market Intelligence data, of Berkshire Hathaway's just updated 44 U.S.-primary listed holdings.
Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway's top holding by far, Apple (AAPL), is down along with this S&P 500 this year. Shares of Apple are off 8.6% this year so far. That's only slightly better than the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)'s 10.5% fall in 2022. The S&P 500 dropped into correction territory this week. More than 44% of Berkshire Hathaway's U.S.-primary listed portfolio, or nearly $145 billion, is tied up in just Apple.
Warren Buffett Stocks: Missing Out On Wells Fargo Bounce
Perhaps the most painful miss on Warren Buffett stocks is the powerful comeback in Wells Fargo. Buffett has aggressively sold one of his longtime favorite stocks — almost just in time to miss a powerful 50% rally this past 12 months. It's up 13.4% just this year.
In fact, Wells Fargo is now the fourth top-performing stock among all of Berkshire Hathaway's stable of holdings this year. But it's now one of the smallest in the portfolio, ranking No. 39 out of 44 holdings. Berkshire now owns just 675,054 shares, worth $36.7 million. That translates to next to nothing in the massive Berkshire Hathaway portfolio and just 0.02% of Wells Fargo's shares outstanding.
Berkshire Hathaway, in just two years, sold 99.8% of its position in the bank, dispensing with 377.7 million shares. The value of those sold shares would have risen more than $2.4 billion just this year.
But it's important to note, while Buffett unloaded Wells Fargo, he's still a massive holder in rival Bank of America (BAC). BofA, which is Berkshire Hathaway's No. 2 holding after Apple, is up 1.4% this year. Should you buy Wells Fargo stock now?
Warren Buffett Wishing For More Communication Services
It's easy to see why Buffett wanted to add shares of video game company. Its shares were battered following allegations of a toxic work environment.
But additionally, it's carving out a niche inside the metaverse, interesting to Microsoft (MSFT). Microsoft is buying the company for roughly 80%. News of a Microsoft buyout sparked a 21.5% rally in Activision this year. And yet, Berkshire Hathaway only owns 1.9% of the company making up less than 0.4% of its portfolio. It's only the No. 22 largest position in the portfolio.
Similarly, Buffett has watched shares of mobile phone service company T-Mobile US boom. Shares of the well-run company are up 4.7% just this year. And longer term, they're even more impressive: up more than 640% in the past 10 years. During that time, the S&P 500 is up just 216%. But Berkshire Hathaway's position in T-Mobile US, though, doesn't crack the top 10. Its $636 million position is only 0.2% of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio and only 0.4% of the company's market value.
Clearly owning just a slice of some of these giant winners is a plus. And Berkshire Hathaway is definitely benefiting as it's showing it mojo this year again. Shares are up 4.6% this year, while the S&P 500 is down. And that includes Berkshire's $16.8 million position in Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) (which is also a tiny part of his portfolio).
But now that Berkshire is in a dead heat with the S&P 500 in the past three and five years, Buffett would certainly love some more of them.
Top 10 Performing Warren Buffett Stocks
Only four of the firm's top 10 performing holdings this year are top 10 Berkshire Hathaway stocks
| Company | Symbol | Sector | Stock YTD % ch. | $ value of Berkshire Hathaway holdings ($ billions) | Size rank in Berkshire portfolio | % of Berkshire portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activision Blizzard | (ATVI) | Communication Services | 21.5% | $1.2 | 22 | 0.4% |
| American Express | (AXP) | Financials | 16.7% | 28.9 | 3 | 9.0% |
| Chevron | (CVX) | Energy | 15.2% | 5.2 | 9 | 1.6% |
| Wells Fargo | (WFC) | Financials | 13.4% | 0.03 | 39 | 0.0% |
| Kraft Heinz | (KHC) | Consumer Staples | 12.3% | 13.1 | 5 | 4.1% |
| Globe Life | (GL) | Financials | 10.6% | 0.7 | 27 | 0.2% |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | (BMY) | Health Care | 8.9% | 0.4 | 30 | 0.1% |
| AbbVie | (ABBV) | Health Care | 8.5% | 0.4 | 29 | 0.1% |
| Coca-Cola | (KO) | Consumer Staples | 4.0% | 24.6 | 4 | 7.7% |
| T-Mobile US | (TMUS) | Communication Services | 4.7% | 0.6 | 28 | 0.2% |
Sources: IBD, S&P Global Market Intelligence, * — among U.S. primary listed positions as of latest filings
Follow Matt Krantz on Twitter @mattkrantz
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