Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway Has 21% of Its $276 Billion Portfolio in 1 Stock That's Up 644% in 9 Years

Neil Patel, The Motley Fool

Sun, May 25, 2025, 3:43 PM 5 min read

• Buffett's purchase of this consumer stock might have been Berkshire's most lucrative investment ever.

• A strong brand, incredible profits, and a cheap valuation were likely the key factors attracting the Oracle of Omaha's attention.

• These days, the business faces headwinds that add lots of uncertainty for investors.

• 10 stocks we like better than Apple ›

In the past 60 years, Berkshire Hathaway has compounded shareholder capital at an unbelievable 19.9% annualized rate. Thanks to Warren Buffett's direction of the conglomerate, he has become an investing legend whose moves are watched very closely by the average investor out there.

Maybe Berkshire's best investment decision came in the past decade, when it purchased a monster stock in early 2016 that is up 644% since the start of that year (as of May 23). Despite numerous sales in the past few quarters, this business still represents 21% of Berkshire's huge $276 billion portfolio.

Investors need to know what company this is. Perhaps it deserves a closer look for your own portfolio.

In a move unusual for Buffett, Berkshire allocated capital to a tech stock in the first quarter of 2016. The investment in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ended up working out in remarkable fashion. The Oracle of Omaha understood first and foremost that Apple possessed one of the world's most powerful brands, a trait he had familiarity with.

Apple's innovative culture, intense focus on providing an exceptional user experience, and well-designed products and services support how strongly it resonates with consumers across the globe. This continues to have a positive impact on the brand image.

Keeping customers engaged and preventing them from leaving to rival products and services is something Apple excels at. It comes down to the rare combination of having hardware that's differentiated by its own software, which creates a robust ecosystem that keeps users locked in.

Positioning itself at the premium end of the consumer electronics market also helps. Apple has historically benefited from having unrivaled pricing power, a characteristic Buffett believes is a clear indicator of a high-quality enterprise.

That pricing power drives remarkable profitability for Apple. Buffett wants to own companies that are in pristine financial shape. In the past decade, Apple's net profit margin has averaged a superb 23%. This leads to the production of copious amounts of free cash flow, which the management team returns to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks.