Most people with even the tiniest of interest in finances or investing recognize that Warren Buffet is likely the world’s greatest investor ever.Buffet likes to buy stock in businesses that have a wide moat. A moat is generally defined as “a company’s ability to maintain competitive advantages over its competitors in order to protect its long-term profits and market share”. Owning businesses with a moat allows a company to be profitable long-term and since Buffet’s preferred holding period is forever, he attempts to stack his portfolio with as many of these types of companies as possible.
Buffet had previously stated that he wouldn’t buy shares in a technology company in due in part to a lack of moat that would protect profits from the competition. That changed at the beginning of the current decade as Buffet bought tech giant IBM (IBM).While Buffet has exited that stock, he has accumulated a large position in another well-known technology company: Apple (AAPL).
Buffet’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway didn’t start buying shares of Apple until 2017.While Apple’s share price declined almost 12% during the first part of the year, Buffet’s portfolio purchased 75 million more shares. This made Apple the third largest holding at that time.Now that the company’s valuation has crossed the $1 trillion market capitalization, Apple is now the largest position in Berkshire Hathaway, above such longtime Buffet favorites such as Wells Fargo (WFC) and Coca-Cola (KO).Apple now accounts for more than 24% of Berkshire Hathaway’s total portfolio.
Why Did Buffet Buy Apple?
Given Buffet’s dislike for technology companies, having such a large stake in Apple might not make sense. But if you are familiar with Apple’s business and its products, you would likely come to the conclusion that Apple is the perfect example of a Buffet stock. This ecosystem gives Apple a moat against its competitors.
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