Apple to Chevron: these are Warren Buffett’s biggest holdings

Warren Buffett is regarded by many as the greatest investor of the modern era. His mantra can be simplified to the following: buy value, and hold on tight. His investment performance speaks for itself; the Oracle of Omaha has collected a fortune worth over $100 billion through his Nebraska-based holding company Berkshire Hathaway. His unique investment approach, and predilection for fast food and cherry soda, has garnered a loyal following. Ahead of Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Shareholder Meeting on Saturday, Yahoo Finance takes a closer look at the stocks behind Berkshire and Buffett's wild success.

Apple (AAPL) is Berkshire's largest holding, with Buffett citing the tech giant's dominance in the market. Bank of America (BAC) is its second largest; you may recall his $5 billion investment at the height of the debt-ceiling impasse back in 2011.

Also bullish on the energy space, Buffett recently added Chevron (CVX) into the mix, taking up 10% of Berkshire's portfolio. Coca-cola (KO) also holds a prominent position, as Buffett has been a long-time fan of the global beverage industry leader.

Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer breaks it all down.

Key video moments

00:00:37: Apple

00:00:51: Bank of America

00:01:05: Chevron

00:01:23: Coca-cola

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JULIE HYMAN: We are three days away from the Berkshire annual shareholder meeting. Let's take a step back to understand what's behind the Oracle of Omaha's success. Here's Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer.

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, so Warren Buffett bought Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, and it's skyrocketed since. Berkshire has done so well, it's even outperformed the S&P 500. The compound annual gain of Berkshire shares is 19.8% since he bought the company compared to the S&P at just 9.9%.

So let's take a closer look at the stocks behind Berkshire Hathaway's wild success. Apple is by far Berkshire's largest holding with almost 40% of its total portfolio. Buffett has cited faith in the tech giant's dominance in the market, noting the unmatched popularity of, of course, the iPhone.

Bank of America is Berkshire's second largest holding with 11% of the company's portfolio. Buffett's boasted about CEO Brian Moynihan's management style and his ability to clean things up after the Great Financial Crisis.

Chevron takes up almost 10% and is one of the newer additions to the Berkshire portfolio. Buffett first snagged shares of the energy company in 2020 and has been bullish on the space since as he's been buying up large chunks of fellow energy giant Occidental Petroleum over that same time period.

Then there's the oracle's long-time favorite, Coca-Cola, with 8.51% of the Berkshire portfolio. Buffett is such a fan of the brand he's rumored to drink five cans of Coke per day.

And finally, there's American Express representing roughly 7 and 1/2% of the company's portfolio. Buffett explains that holding American-- he holds American Express simply because you can't create another American Express.

BRAD SMITH: So when it comes to banks, does Buffett have any other favorites, Josh, besides the Bank of America?

JOSH SCHAFER: So he holds Bank of America, of course, but there were some other favorite Buffett investments and ones that he's looked at in the past. You remember he helped out Salomon Brothers back in the 1990s. He injected $5 billion in Goldman Sachs during the tumult of 2008. But he's since gotten out of those bets. He no longer holds Goldman Sachs. And we heard him talk recently about the current financial crisis or banking crisis that we've been talking about over March, but he hasn't, to our knowledge, gotten involved yet there either, guys. We'll be excited, of course, to hear what he says about banks and the health of the financial system come Saturday.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, that should be really interesting. I mean, a lot of it should be interesting, but that in particular we're going to be paying attention to. Thanks, Josh. Appreciate it.