Despite spending a cumulative $78 billion buying shares of his favorite stock since mid-2018, the Oracle of Omaha’s attention is currently with three other holdings.
Few if any investors have earned Wall Street’s attention quite like Berkshire Hathaway‘s (BRK.A -0.56%) (BRK.B -0.45%) billionaire CEO, Warren Buffett. In his 60 years at the helm, the aptly named “Oracle of Omaha” has led his company’s Class A shares (BRK.A) to a jaw-dropping cumulative return of greater than 6,000,000%!
Buffett’s consistent long-term outperformance of the benchmark S&P 500 has investors eager to ride his coattails and mirror his trading activity. This can be done by tracking Berkshire’s quarterly Form 13F filings, which provide investors with a snapshot of which stocks Buffett has been buying and selling.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. Image source: The Motley Fool.
But investors don’t have to wait a full three months to get an idea of what the Oracle of Omaha has been up to. Thanks to Berkshire Hathaway’s quarterly operating results, as well as Form 4 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), some of Buffett’s trading activity can be brought to light on a somewhat regular basis.
Although Warren Buffett hasn’t been buying his favorite stock of late, Form 4 filings show he’s been scooping up shares of three perceived value stocks this year amid a historically pricey market.
The Oracle of Omaha passes on his favorite stock for a second consecutive quarter
Despite having a quarter of Berkshire Hathaway’s $285 billion portfolio invested in Apple, this tech giant isn’t Buffett’s favorite stock to buy. Rather, it’s a company even nearer and dearer to his heart.
Based on Berkshire Hathaway’s quarterly operating results, no stock has been purchased with greater frequency since mid-2018 than shares of his own company. Buffett has green-lit the purchase of almost $78 billion worth of his company’s stock over this timeline.
Since Berkshire Hathaway doesn’t pay a dividend, buying back stock helps incent long-term investing. Additionally, companies with steady or growing net income (like Berkshire) that repurchase their stock can boost their earnings per share.
But following 24 consecutive quarters of share repurchases (July 2018-June 2024), the December-ended quarter marked the second straight quarter that Berkshire’s chief chose not to buy back his company’s stock. This may have to do with Berkshire’s stock being valued at its highest premium to book value in more than 16 years.
Furthermore, the stock market is historically pricey, as evidenced by Buffett and his team being net sellers of stocks for nine consecutive quarters. A company’s value proposition and competitive advantages — even including Buffett’s own company — really have to pop for the Oracle of Omaha to be interested at the moment.
Buffett kicked off 2025 by purchasing three perceived value stocks
But just because the broader market is historically pricey, it doesn’t mean Berkshire’s chief can’t uncover value. Thanks to Form 4 filings with the SEC, we know he’s been scooping up shares of three perceived value stocks to begin 2025.
Image source: Getty Images.
Sirius XM Holdings
The first bargain stock Warren Buffett can’t seem to get enough of is satellite-radio operator Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI 6.23%). From Jan. 30 through Feb. 3, Berkshire Hathaway picked up more than 2.3 million shares of Sirius XM at a cost of close to $54 million.
One of the primary lures of Sirius XM is its unique positioning as a legal monopoly. While it continues to face competition for listeners from terrestrial and online radio providers, it’s the lone company licensed to operate a satellite-radio service. More often than not, this is going to provide Sirius XM with strong subscription pricing power.
Buffett and his team are likely also fans of Sirius XM’s sales structure. Whereas traditional radio companies rely almost exclusively on advertising to keep the lights on, Sirius XM generated 76% of its net sales from subscriptions in 2024, with only 20% coming from ads.
Although economic expansions last considerably longer than recessions, when downturns do occur, Sirius XM’s subscribers are far less likely to cancel their service than businesses are to meaningfully pare back their ad spending. In short, Sirius XM’s operating cash flow should be stabler than traditional radio operators.
The final catalyst behind Buffett’s buying of Sirius XM stock likely has to do with its historically cheap valuation. At 7.4 times Wall Street’s consensus earnings forecast in 2026, Sirius XM stock is valued at less than half its average forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple over the trailing-five-year period.
Occidental Petroleum
The second value stock that’s tickled Warren Buffett’s fancy is integrated oil and gas giant Occidental Petroleum (OXY 3.35%). On Feb. 7, Form 4 filings show Berkshire Hathaway purchased 763,017 shares, equating to about $35.7 million. Since the start of 2022, Buffett’s stake in Occidental has grown to nearly 265 million shares.
The $12 billion invested in Occidental, as of this writing, suggests Buffett and his team strongly believe the spot price of crude oil will remain elevated or head even higher. Geopolitical risks, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago, coupled with three years of capital underinvestment by energy companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, have tightened the global supply of oil and given credence to the possibility that its spot price will remain elevated.
Occidental Petroleum is unique among integrated energy companies in the sense that it generates a high percentage of its revenue from its upstream drilling operations. If the spot price of oil climbs, few if any integrated energy companies will see a greater benefit to their operating cash flow.
It also operates transmission pipelines and downstream chemical plants. While these ancillary assets don’t generate as much revenue as its drilling operations, they can help to partially hedge downside in the spot price of oil.
Perhaps the top catalyst for Buffett at the moment is Occidental Petroleum’s forward P/E of 11, which marks a 14% discount to the company’s average forward P/E ratio over the last half-decade.
VeriSign
The third existing holding that Warren Buffett has been scooping up in 2025 for his company’s $285 billion portfolio is internet domain-name registry service VeriSign (VRSN 0.22%). During the first two days of January, the Oracle of Omaha picked up 18,423 shares of VeriSign, which increased Berkshire’s stake in the company to almost 13.3 million shares.
Similar to Sirius XM, the allure of VeriSign stock is its legal monopoly status. VeriSign is the company that holds the registration rights of leading .com and .net domains, as granted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Even with domain registration well off of its frenzy from the dot-com era, there’s significant pricing power and cash-flow predictability to be had as the domain registry leader.
Another factor Berkshire Hathaway’s chief is bound to appreciate is VeriSign’s impressive margins. Aside from investing in infrastructure and paying fees to ICANN, VeriSign has a relatively low-cost operating model. When coupled with its aforementioned pricing power, the company has sustained an operating margin of roughly 64% to 69% over the last five years.
The last piece of the puzzle that likely made Buffett a buyer is VeriSign’s valuation. While it isn’t as fundamentally cheap as Sirius XM or Occidental Petroleum, VeriSign is less costly than it’s been in the past. The company’s forward P/E ratio of 26 represents an 8% discount to its average forward earnings multiple over the last five years.
