Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has a portfolio focused on insurance, tech blue chips, and credit card services. Buffett’s strategy is to keep it simple and invest in sure things. Greg Abel, his successor, and the rest of the Berkshire team have learned from the best.
Visa is a steady performer that pays over time. The company has created double-digit rates of revenue growth, with similar trends in income. Net income reached $19.6 billion last year.
Visa is slowly decreasing shares outstanding, which improves earnings potential for shareholders. Estimates predict that earnings will continue to increase annually over the next four years. Apple is in a slow patch, which makes it a great time to get involved.
The stock has declined by over 20% in the past six months. Apple faces the task of creating new innovations in its lineup. The endless new iPhones aren’t that different from the ones before.
They are the bread and butter of Apple’s business. Through the first six months of fiscal 2025, Apple’s total revenue increased by roughly 4.4% to $219.6 billion. The iPhone generated revenue growth of just under 2% in the fiscal second quarter.
Total sales increased 5% year over year in the second quarter to $95.4 billion. Chubb represented 2.8% of Berkshire’s portfolio as of March 31. This insurance company has achieved double-digit annual revenue growth, operates in 54 countries, and has strong projections for the future.
Analyst estimates are calling for a weaker fiscal 2025, with earnings estimates of $21.79 per share. This would mark a decline from last year’s earnings of $22.70. After this year, estimates are expected to rise significantly for Chubb.
By fiscal 2027, average estimates are calling for earnings of $28.29 per share. Insurance is a business that is here to stay. It’s a part of life, which makes Chubb a no-brainer holding.
Buffett’s top stock selections
Amazon’s stock price has struggled recently, down approximately 1% so far in 2025 as the company increases its capital expenditures. Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky noted that capital expenditures could exceed $100 billion in 2025, driven by investments in data centers, chips, and AI infrastructure.
This represents a significant increase from $48.1 billion in 2023 and $77.7 billion in 2024. In Q1 2025, Amazon generated $155.7 billion in revenue, a 9% year-over-year increase. Amazon also delivered $18.4 billion in operating earnings for the quarter, representing year-over-year growth of 20.3%.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is already bearing fruit from Amazon’s AI investment. Management projected a $117 billion annual revenue run rate for AWS in 2025, with Q1 revenue increasing 17% year-over-year to $29.3 billion. Apple rewards shareholders through continued stock buybacks and dividends.
The company has reduced its share count by nearly 13% over the past five years. It recently announced a $100 billion addition to its share repurchasing program. Apple pays a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, equating to an annual yield of 0.5%.
With a payout ratio of just 16%, investors can reasonably expect annual dividend hikes for the foreseeable future. Chevron is the fifth-largest position in Berkshire’s massive $283 billion equity portfolio, accounting for 6% of the portfolio. The company operates extensive upstream and downstream oil operations with a significant presence in the Permian Basin.
Chevron is projecting a 5% to 6% compound annual growth rate in oil production in the Permian Basin, along with declining capital expenditures, which will lead to $2 billion in free cash flow growth by 2026. Chevron has increased its dividend for 38 straight years, providing a healthy dividend yield of nearly 4.8%. With a 12-month trailing free cash flow yield of nearly 5.3%, Chevron can cover its dividend.
The company also repurchases $10 billion to $20 billion in stock annually. Sirius XM has been a challenging investment over the last five years, with the stock down about 59%. The company owns Sirius Satellite Radio and the Pandora streaming service.
It has struggled to grow subscribers amid rising competition from major players. Sirius’ management plans to grow subscribers from 40 million to 50 million and free cash flow by 50%, from $1.2 billion to $1.8 billion. The company boasts a high dividend yield of 4.8% and has increased its dividend annually since 2016.
With a trailing-12-month free cash flow yield over 12%, Sirius can easily cover and increase its dividend each year. The company is also conducting share repurchases.
