Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns $91.3 billion worth of Apple stock
Apple shares now comprise 43% of Warren Buffett's portfolio with Berkshire Hathaway owning $91.3 billion worth of AAPL, according to the holding company's latest shareholder letter.
Credit: Berkshire Hathaway
That's a sharp rise since November 2018, when Apple made up about a quarter of Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio. The more than doubling of Apple's percentage of Buffett's holding has taken place in the past two years, with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating the process.
Buffett's confidence in the Cupertino tech giant is based on several factors. Primarily, the renowned investor has long been a fan of companies with sustainable competitive advantages, The Motley Fool points out.
Apple controls a majority of the U.S. smartphone market, with GlobalStats data suggesting that the company has a 58% share of the market in the country.
Buffett is also a fan of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has helmed the ship at Cupertino since Apple cofounder Steve Jobs resigned in 2011 due to health reasons. Since then, Apple shares have risen in value 688%.
Apple has also periodically borrows money through bonds at low rates to repurchase shares -- a tactic that Buffett approves of.
Compared to the S&P 500 and other companies in the COVID-19 era, Apple has largely outperformed. Along with its dominant position as an iPhone maker, the company has also been increasingly focused on services and wearbles.
Earlier in 2020, Berkshire Hathaway sold more than $800 million in Apple shares, but the holding company is still Apple's largest shareholder. In fact, Apple's influence on Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio is larger than every other equity combined with the sole exception of its second-largest holding, Band of America.
Credit: Berkshire Hathaway
That's a sharp rise since November 2018, when Apple made up about a quarter of Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio. The more than doubling of Apple's percentage of Buffett's holding has taken place in the past two years, with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating the process.
Buffett's confidence in the Cupertino tech giant is based on several factors. Primarily, the renowned investor has long been a fan of companies with sustainable competitive advantages, The Motley Fool points out.
Apple controls a majority of the U.S. smartphone market, with GlobalStats data suggesting that the company has a 58% share of the market in the country.
Buffett is also a fan of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has helmed the ship at Cupertino since Apple cofounder Steve Jobs resigned in 2011 due to health reasons. Since then, Apple shares have risen in value 688%.
Apple has also periodically borrows money through bonds at low rates to repurchase shares -- a tactic that Buffett approves of.
Compared to the S&P 500 and other companies in the COVID-19 era, Apple has largely outperformed. Along with its dominant position as an iPhone maker, the company has also been increasingly focused on services and wearbles.
Earlier in 2020, Berkshire Hathaway sold more than $800 million in Apple shares, but the holding company is still Apple's largest shareholder. In fact, Apple's influence on Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio is larger than every other equity combined with the sole exception of its second-largest holding, Band of America.
Comments
Steve is! lol
Being articulate and stating opinions firmly and as if they were fact does not makes them true. Being articulate does not equal knowledge about the topic at hand or support flimsy conclusions. It just means someone talks as if they know what they are talking about when it's doubtful they do.
Where is your money George? I'm interested to know if you act as good of a game as you talk.
Agreed.
Berkshire would generally like to buy whole businesses. But sometimes that isn't feasible - e.g., because the businesses aren't for sale as wholes or because they're too large to buy in their entireties. So Berkshire sometimes buys portions of businesses it likes by buying shares in them.
To be clear though, Berkshire's Apple holdings don't represent nearly half of its value. They represent closer to 20%.
Yeah. As of the end of 2019, Apple accounted for about 30% of Berkshire's equity holdings. As of the end of March 2020, it accounted for about 35%. The increase hasn't come from Berkshire buying more AAPL shares. The increase has come from AAPL shares outperforming the rest of Berkshire's holdings.
As for American equities in general, he seems to still be bullish - especially when looking at them, as he does, for the long term. He still thinks buying American businesses (not just any, of course) is a smart thing to do with your money. And to him that's what equity investment is - buying pieces of businesses he wants to be a partner in.
EDIT: As for the Fed's actions earlier this year... Yes, Mr. Buffett commented on them. He stated more or less the obvious... that the Fed, having learned from the past (particularly from 2008-2009), stepped in quickly and aggressively to prevent a liquidity freeze that may otherwise have caused major problems for many companies and caused even more economic damage than we've seen. When companies - big and small - lose access to short-term borrowing, that can be devastating to an economy.