Got a little extra cash you're ready to put to work, but can't find any stocks you want to buy? Don't make it complicated. If you're not finding anything you like on your own, borrow a pick or two (or three) from the world's best-known stock picker. That's Warren Buffett, who's also rightfully called the Oracle of Omaha for his stock-picking prowess. Shares of his Berkshire Hathaway regularly outperform the S&P 500, achieving something only a handful of mutual fund managers ever even occasionally do.
With that as the backdrop, here's a closer look at three names Buffett's currently holding in Berkshire's portfolio that could be at home among your holdings as well.
1. Coca-Cola
It's such a frequently suggested stock pick that it's almost become a cliché. Yet, there's a reason The Coca-Cola Company(NYSE: KO) keeps making its way back onto investors' radars -- it's just that strong of a prospect. While it may never be a high-growth holding, it's a resilient one that's not only paid a quarterly dividend like clockwork for decades, but has now raised its annual payout for 63 consecutive years. Newcomers will be plugging into the stock while its forward-looking dividend yield stands at 2.9%.
There's another, more strategic, reason you might want to consider a new stake in Coca-Cola at this time, though. That is, with more than a little economic uncertainty on the horizon, not only will consumers be looking for affordable, comfort-providing treats, but the market will be rewarding the stocks of the consumer goods companies that can offer them.
Said another way, people might postpone the purchase of a new car or turn a vacation into a staycation if money gets tight, but they'll offset this tightening of the purse strings with purchases of their favorite and familiar name-brand beverages and snacks. Investors are apt to take notice, too, buoying this stock.
Even if that dynamic doesn't fully play out, however, you're still holding a stake in one of the market's most reliable and resilient companies. You could certainly do worse.
This might help: Berkshire doesn't just own some Coca-Cola shares. In addition to be being one of its longest-held positions, it's also the conglomerate's fourth-biggest holding, currently worth nearly $30 billion. That's about 10% of Berkshire's entire stock portfolio, which speaks volumes about Buffett's long-term faith in the beverage giant.
2. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Not every Berkshire Hathaway holding deserves to be regularly highlighted. But, observers have heard strangely little about the stakes in five different Japanese companies that Buffett and his lieutenants first took on back in 2019 -- that is, until now.
In last month's annual letter to Berkshire's shareholders, Buffett made a point of saying, "As the years have passed, our admiration for these companies has consistently grown." He adds, "I expect that Greg [Abel] and his eventual successors will be holding this Japanese position for many decades and that Berkshire will find other ways to work productively with the five companies in the future."
On the surface, the glowing commentary doesn't necessarily mean much; they're just words. They're words that Warren Buffett chose to add to his annual shareholder letter that usually doesn't discuss much in detail, though. The fact that the Oracle of Omaha opted to highlight these five obscure holdings suggests these tickers are on his mind more than others of late. That may be a bullish clue in and of itself.
It's also a clue worth heeding if you're simply trying to scale back your exposure to the increasingly turbulent U.S. economy. Berkshire continues to add to each position anyway, only limited by agreements made with each of the five companies to keep the conglomerate's stakes relatively modest. Collectively though, they still make up more than 7% of the total value of Berkshire's stock holdings, in effect making them the company's fifth-biggest position.
None of these five Japanese stocks are listed on an actual U.S. exchange, for the record. Rather, they're all OTC-listed. That doesn't make them less investment-worthy. It just makes them a bit trickier to track.
Just for the sake of your own sanity though, you might want to stick with just one of these holdings. That's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries(OTC: MHVYF), which makes everything from power-producing equipment to aircraft parts to infrastructure components, and more. Notably, the majority of its revenue comes from outside the United States, so it's going to largely sidestep any U.S. tariff trouble.
3. Chevron
Finally, add oil giant Chevron(NYSE: CVX) to your list of Buffett stocks to buy if you've got an otherwise-idle $1,000 lying around. It's still Berkshire's fifth-biggest individual holding, currently worth $18 billion.
It's a somewhat surprising holding, given the advent of renewable energy that even 94-year-old Buffett has to recognize will eventually displace fossil fuels. The fact is, however, clean-energy alternatives like solar and wind are still years -- if not decades -- away from making a major dent in the world's reliance on natural gas, oil, and even coal.
The numbers: The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that as of 2023, coal was still the world's single-biggest source of electricity production, while all renewables combined only accounted for about 30% of the planet's power production. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the world's cars are also still gas-burning combustion-powered vehicles -- and will be for a long while. That's a big reason the Energy Information Administration predicts even as far down the road as 2050 that petroleum and related liquids will still be the world's single-biggest source of energy, just slightly ahead of renewables by then.
Connecting the dots: Given the amount of time it takes for clean-energy infrastructure to be built, there's some good money to be made in the oil and gas business in the meantime. Buffett is simply plugged into this reality.
That still doesn't make this ticker the easiest one to own. Energy companies' bottom lines are tethered to the price of oil, after all, and the industry is still subject to geopolitical pressure. For instance, Chevron is effectively being forced by the U.S Treasury Department to cease operations in Venezuela. It's just the nature of the business, and a key reason Chevron shares have simply traveled sideways since 2022.
Take a step back, and look at the bigger picture. It's still leaning bullishly, with every passing day bringing us one day closer to so-called "peak oil." Also recognize that this stock's projected dividend yield of 4.5% is measurably more than you'll get from most other dividend-paying companies of this caliber.
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James Brumley has positions in Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway and Chevron. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
