At the age of 94, Warren Buffett is now worth about $162 billion.
And if he’s buying or selling, you may want to follow his lead.
Key Points About This Article
- In late 2024, Warren Buffett invested $1.24 billion in the alcoholic beverage industry with Constellation Brands.
- Warren Buffett has been aggressively buying Occidental Petroleum, especially on dips.
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In fact, if most of us listened to him between 1965 and 2022, as Berkshire Hathaway returned a 19.8% compounded annual gain, most of us wouldn’t be worrying about money today. Not only has his advice created unbelievable fortunes, but it’s helped avoid financial mistakes.
Granted, he recently said, “Nothing looks compelling” in a recent shareholder letter. But that didn’t stop him from quietly adding new holdings, such as:
Constellation Brands
In late 2024, Warren Buffett invested $1.24 billion in the alcoholic beverage industry with Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ). Part of the reason for that is STZ owns some of the most popular beer brands, and recently dethroned Bud Light as America’s top selling beer.
We also have to consider the STZ valuation is attractive.
With a market cap of $33.64 billion, Constellation trades with a forward PE ratio of 14.74, which is below the industry average of 16.38. Also, while its EV/EBITDA ratio of 12.7 is above the industry average of 10, the premium reflects its brand portfolio.
Even better, STZ yields 2.2% at the moment. In addition, according to Citi analysts Buffett’s investment in STZ in a “perfect example of value investing.”
We should also note insiders have been buying stock.
In January, for example, director William Giles paid $186,390 for 1,000 shares of STZ.
Occidental Petroleum
Warren Buffett has been aggressively buying Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), especially on dips.
Most recently, the billionaire picked up another 763,020 shares, which now makes up about 4.58% of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio. That follows the firm’s 8.9 million share purchase in December on another pullback.
At this rate, it would be easy to assume that Buffett wants to buy the whole company. However, according to Buffett, that’s not the case.
“Though we very much like our ownership, as well as the option, Berkshire has no interest in purchasing or managing Occidental. We particularly like its vast oil and gas holdings in the United States, as well as its leadership in carbon-capture initiatives, though the economic feasibility of this technique has yet to be proven. Both of these activities are very much in our country’s interest,” he wrote in a 2023 shareholder letter.
Buffett also believes OXY is being run the “right way,” he mentioned to CNBC. “I read every word [of its earnings call], and said this is exactly what I would be doing.”
Verisign
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway just increased its stake in the Verisign (NASDAQ:VRSN).
Most recently, the firm picked up about 377,736 shares for about $74 million in late December. They picked up another 18,420 shares of VRSN in early January.
In December, VRSN had a gross margin of 87.6%, a 71% operating margin and a 52% net income margin. All of which were up year over year. Plus, Verisign owns the digital real estate space, controlling registrations for dot-com and dot-net in our online world.
Sirius XM Holdings
Buffett also added to his Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI) stake.
Most recently, Berkshire Hathaway bought 2.3 million shares of SIRI for about $54 million. The firm now owns 35.4% of SIRI. Even better, SIRI just declared a dividend of 27 cents per share, which is payable on May 28 to shareholders of record as of May 9.
Recent SIRI earnings weren’t too shabby either. Fourth quarter EPS of 83 cents beat estimates by 12 cents. Revenue of $2.19 billion beat by $20 million. Its first quarter earnings will be out May 1 before the markets open.
Sumitomo
Berkshire also increased its position in Sumitomo (OTC: SSUMF), a Japanese general trading company by about 1% to about 10%. That was in addition to investing in other Japanese trading houses, including Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, and Mitsui.
The five companies are the biggest “sogo shosha,” or trading houses, in Japan and invest across a wide range of sectors both domestically and abroad, “in a manner somewhat similar to Berkshire itself,” Buffett said, as noted by CNBC.
Domino’s Pizza
Buffett’s firm now holds 1.28 million shares of Domino’s Pizza (NYSE:DPZ), worth about $549 million.
Not only does DPZ have a yield of 1.43%, the company also has a wide economic moat, with plenty of growth in store.
Plus, as noted by Morningstar, Domino’s boasts “economic returns supported by comparable sales growth in excess of peers, commanding franchise level profitability, and impressive international portability, underpinned by its ‘fortressing’ strategy and commitment to a lean, value-driven menu.”
We should also note that DPZ has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years, with an average increase per year of over 5%. Most recently, it raised its dividend to $1.74, which was paid out on March 28 to shareholders of record as of March 14.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images.