Warren Buffett, the world’s preeminent value investor, is an industry titan who enjoys almost unanimous admiration from investors. The ‘Oracle of Omaha’ has managed to consistently beat markets through a cautious approach focused on lasting competitive advantages and investing in businesses trading at attractive valuations relative to earnings and revenue.
Throughout recent times, Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B), his holding company, have been net sellers of stocks — and the billionaire philanthropist has been sitting on a record-breaking cash position, apparently getting ready for a buying spree once a market downturn occurs.
February 14 saw the publication of a document that is always in vogue — Berkshire Hathaway’s 13-F filing. In Q4 2024, the period covered in the latest filing, a further 2.5% of Berkshire’s holdings were sold. On top of that, several purchases — albeit minor, were made.
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The Berkshire CEO’s outlook seems to remain cautious — and a closer look at the company’s updated holdings can further clue us in as to how Warren Buffett had positioned himself at the tail end of 2024.
Buffett bearish on banks and indices
First, let’s look at the positions that were closed in their entirety. Buffett’s broad-market skepticism is reflected by the fact that his entire holdings in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — two index funds, to be more precise were liquidated.
Last quarter, the portfolio included 43,000 shares of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and 39,000 shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). Both of the positions are now closed.
In addition, Buffett sold off the remainder of his stake in Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA), amounting to 24,203 ULTA shares.
Elsewhere, the billionaire also continued dumping banking stocks — Citigroup (NYSE: C), Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF), and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), in which Warren Buffett sold 73%, 18%, and 15% of his stake, respectively.
One notable and unexpected detail is that Berkshire’s stake in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), another stock that it had been selling as of late, has remained unchanged.
Warren Buffett added just one new holding in Q4
In the last quarter of 2024, the only new stock added to the portfolio was Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ). After weaker-than-expected earnings and a reduced growth outlook, STZ stock went tumbling and is currently down 26.27% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. At press time, Constellation Brands shares were changing hands for $162.94.
Finally, the billionaire increased his stakes in Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), Pool Corp (NASDAQ: POOL), SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI), Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) by 87%, 48%, 12%, 4%, and 4%, respectively.
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