Although most investors were laser-focused on the release of the July inflation report last week, they may have missed what could be described as the most insightful data dump of the third quarter.
On Aug. 14, institutional investors with at least $100 million in assets under management were required to file Form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A 13F is the filing that alerts investors to the stocks, exchange-traded funds, and (occasionally) options that Wall Street's smartest money managers bought and sold in the latest quarter (in this instance, the June-ended quarter).
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. Image source: The Motley Fool.
No asset manager garners more attention on Wall Street than Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE:BRK-A)(NYSE:BRK-B) billionaire CEO Warren Buffett. That's because Buffett has overseen an increase in his company's Class A shares (BRK.A) of more than 5,387,000% since becoming CEO in 1965. When you run circles around Wall Street's major stock indexes, investors of all walks will want to ride your coattails.
According to Berkshire's newest 13F, the appropriately named "Oracle of Omaha" and his investment lieutenants, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, are overseeing a 45-stock portfolio spread across $314 billion of invested assets. Make note that this figure excludes the two index funds Berkshire currently holds small stakes in -- the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust -- because index funds are comprised of baskets of securities and aren't themselves stocks.
Here's a thorough breakdown of Warren Buffett's portfolio at Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett's portfolio is highly concentrated in eight core investments
At quick glance, you'd assume Buffett, Combs, and Weschler were well diversified, given that their company has $314 billion spread out across 45 stocks -- but you'd be sorely mistaken. In reality, more than 79% of Berkshire's invested assets can be traced back to eight core holdings.
- Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL): $90,420,000,000 in market value (as of Aug. 16)
- American Express: $38,161,929,297
- Bank of America (NYSE:BAC): $37,075,191,558
- Coca-Cola: $27,672,000,000
- Chevron (NYSE:CVX): $17,467,773,342
- Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY): $14,706,768,598
- Moody's: $11,513,878,788
- Kraft Heinz: $11,273,477,399
Despite Berkshire's team being big net-sellers of equities over the last seven quarters, these eight investments make crystal clear that Buffett prefers to have an outsized percentage of his company's capital put to work in his best ideas.
Perhaps the biggest surprise here is energy stocks accounting for a double-digit percentage of invested assets. Buffett has overseen the purchase of more than 255.2 million shares of Occidental Petroleum since the start of 2022 and also holds around 118.6 million shares of Chevron.
Historically, energy stocks haven't played a key role in Buffett's portfolio. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple years of capital underinvestment by global energy majors (including Chevron) has led to tight global oil supply. When the supply of an in-demand commodity is constrained, this often means its spot price receives a boost. Occidental Petroleum, in particular, generates the bulk of its revenue from its drilling segment, and would be a prime beneficiary of a sustainably higher spot price for crude oil.
It is worth noting that Buffett and his crew have sold well over 500 million shares of their top holding, Apple, since Oct. 1, 2023, and they recently dumped north of $3.8 billion worth of Bank of America stock over 12 consecutive trading sessions (July 17 – Aug. 1).
Though it's highly unlikely Buffett has lost faith in the management teams of either company, Berkshire is sitting on mammoth unrealized gains in Apple and Bank of America. With the stock market at historically pricey levels, and Buffett opining during his company's annual shareholder meeting in May that he believes corporate tax rates will climb, locking in some gains makes perfect sense.
Image source: Getty Images.
The Oracle of Omaha has 20 additional billion-dollar wagers
Even though the lion's share of Berkshire Hathaway's invested assets can be traced back to the aforementioned eight brand-name companies, it doesn't mean there aren't sizable wagers elsewhere. As of the closing bell on Aug. 16, there were 20 holdings that ranged in value between $1.2 billion and $7.4 billion.
- Chubb (NYSE:CB): $7,391,306,883
- Mitsubishi (OTC:MSBHF)(OTC:MTSU.Y): $7,357,559,195
- Itochu (OTC:ITOCY)(OTC:ITOCF): $5,744,464,819
- DaVita: $5,425,164,171
- Mitsui (OTC:MITSY)(OTC:MITSF): $5,390,943,959
- Citigroup: $3,392,030,536
- Kroger: $2,659,500,000
- Marubeni (OTC:MARUY): $2,416,778,056
- Sumitomo (OTC:SSUM.Y)(OTC:SSUM.F): $2,388,438,078
- VeriSign: $2,305,016,154
- Visa: $2,218,574,855
- Mastercard: $1,869,259,514
- Amazon: $1,770,600,000
- BYD: $1,550,124,061
- Liberty Sirius XM Group Series C (NASDAQ:LSXMK): $1,540,063,734
- Nu Holdings: $1,509,303,667
- Capital One Financial: $1,370,346,897
- Aon: $1,361,405,000
- Charter Communications: $1,352,803,145
- Ally Financial: $1,218,870,000
One of the interesting quirks about Buffett's "other" billion-dollar investments is that this section contains five of the eight companies he described as "indefinite" holdings in his most recent annual letter to shareholders.
Aside from longtime holdings Coca-Cola and American Express, as well as Occidental Petroleum, Buffett listed the five Japanese trading houses (Mitsubishi, Itochu, Mitsui, Marubeni, and Sumitomo) as forever-type holdings for his company. The only reason Buffett hasn't purchased an even larger stake in these businesses is because he has to keep Berkshire Hathaway's stake in all five companies below 10%.
The "why?" behind Mitsubishi, Itochu, Mitsui, Marubeni, and Sumitomo has everything to do with these companies being cyclical and cheap. The Oracle of Omaha is a big fan of diversified companies able to take advantage of long-winded periods of economic expansion. When those businesses have single-digit price-to-earnings ratios, hearty capital-return programs, and CEOs with reasonably low compensation packages, Buffett tends to be a happy camper.
There's also a sizable presence of financial stocks among Buffett's billion-dollar ventures. It's here we find insurer Chubb, which was the confidential stock Berkshire's brightest minds began building a position in last summer. Insurers typically possess strong premium pricing power, and they've notably benefited from higher net interest income on their float (i.e., premium collected that hasn't been paid out via claims) over the last two years.
Warren Buffett's smaller holdings
To round things out, the roughly $314 billion portfolio overseen by Buffett, Combs, and Weschler also has 17 "smaller" holdings, ranging in market value from a little over $9 million to as much as $918 million.
- T-Mobile: $918,328,320
- Liberty Sirius XM Group Series A (NASDAQ:LSXMA): $774,712,462
- Liberty Formula One Series C: $594,705,952
- Louisiana-Pacific: $561,167,725
- Liberty Live Series C: $430,810,903
- Floor & Décor: $418,352,588
- Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI): $398,634,639
- Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA): $260,328,686
- HEICO Class A: $195,471,660
- Liberty Live Series A: $192,282,833
- NVR: $96,329,150
- Diageo: $29,293,205
- Liberty Latin America Series A: $25,650,222
- Jefferies Financial Group: $24,946,927
- Lennar Class B: $24,352,017
- Liberty Latin America Series C: $12,570,556
- Atlanta Braves Holdings Series C: $9,370,726
If there's a prevailing theme to these sub-$1 billion wagers, it's that these companies were likely purchased, and/or are actively overseen, by Combs and Weschler.
For instance, Wall Street has been crowing about Berkshire's purchase of more than 690,000 shares of Ulta Beauty following the release of Berkshire's second-quarter 13F. While Ulta's chain of cosmetics stores have been a popular launch point for a number of beauty products, cosmetics are well outside the realm of where Buffett focuses his research. This makes it highly likely that Combs and/or Weschler is behind this trade.
You can also see a potential arbitrage opportunity at play among these smaller holdings. In particular, Berkshire's stake in Sirius XM Holdings has more than tripled over the last three months. By the end of September, Sirius XM is expected to complete its merger with Liberty Media's Sirius XM tracking stock, Liberty Sirius XM Group, to create a single class of shares. Sirius XM will also conduct a 1-for-10 reverse split upon consummation of the merger.
Differences in price between Sirius XM and Liberty Sirius XM Group may be opening the door for Buffett and his investing lieutenants to take advantage.
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Bank of America is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. American Express is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Ally is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Sean Williams has positions in Amazon, Bank of America, Mastercard, Sirius XM, and Visa. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Apple, BYD Company, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, Chevron, Jefferies Financial Group, Lennar, Mastercard, Moody's, NVR, Ulta Beauty, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, VeriSign, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends Diageo Plc, Heico, Kraft Heinz, Kroger, Nu Holdings, Occidental Petroleum, and T-Mobile US and recommends the following options: long January 2025 $370 calls on Mastercard and short January 2025 $380 calls on Mastercard. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
