Berkshire Hathaway's Investment Strategy - Warren Buffett's leadership has driven Berkshire Hathaway's stock to a compound annual return of 19.8% since 1965, turning a $1,000 investment into $42.5 million [1] - Buffett's strategy focuses on companies with steady growth, robust profitability, strong management, and shareholder-friendly initiatives like buybacks and dividends [11] Amazon (AMZN) - Amazon is the world's largest e-commerce company and is leveraging AI in its fulfillment centers and through its AI shopping assistant, Rufus [2] - AWS, Amazon's cloud computing platform, is a key focus for investors as it aims to dominate the three core layers of AI: infrastructure, large language models (LLMs), and software [2] - AWS operates data centers with Nvidia's chips and its own custom chips, Trainium and Inferentia, which can save up to 50% on AI training costs [3] - AWS Bedrock platform offers third-party LLMs and Amazon's in-house Titan models, while the Q virtual assistant helps businesses extract insights and generate code [3] - Berkshire Hathaway invested $2.2 billion in Amazon in 2019, with potential for significant long-term gains if Amazon's AI initiatives succeed [4] - AWS revenue grew 19% YoY to $27.4 billion in Q3 2024, with AI revenue growing at a triple-digit percentage rate [13] Coca-Cola (KO) - Coca-Cola has embraced AI, appointing a "head of generative AI" and using AI to create promotional products like Coca-Cola Y3000 [5][6] - Berkshire Hathaway's $1.3 billion investment in Coca-Cola between 1988 and 1994 is now worth $25 billion, with AI potentially adding further value [7] - AI is a key part of Coca-Cola's marketing strategy, including interactive campaigns like "Create Real Magic" [14] - Coca-Cola plans to invest $1.1 billion over five years in AI services through Microsoft Azure to improve supply chains, productivity, and marketing [15] Apple (AAPL) - Berkshire Hathaway invested $38 billion in Apple between 2016 and 2023, with the stake worth over $170 billion at the start of 2024 [8] - Apple Intelligence, launched in partnership with OpenAI, introduces transformative AI features like email summarization, proofreading, and image generation [9][16] - Siri now integrates OpenAI's ChatGPT, enhancing its capabilities [9] - Apple has over 2.2 billion devices worldwide, positioning it as a potential leader in consumer AI distribution [17] - Despite selling over half of its Apple shares in 2024, Apple remains Berkshire's largest holding at 25.8% of its portfolio [10][16]

This chart features all eight American technology stocks with valuations of $1 trillion or more, and their respective returns in 2024 so far. Their average return for the year works out to around 67%. By comparison, the S&P 500 is up by just 26%. Here's why that's important. Those eight tech giants have a combined weighting of 35.9% in the S&P 500, meaning investors who don't own them are almost certainly underperforming the index. Since themes like artificial intelligence (AI) will likely continue driving ...

“If Santa should fail to call, bears may come to Broad and Wall.” – Yale HirschIt’s been a sluggish start to December with the S&P 500 down about 1% on the month as of early Tuesday morning.On a positive note, the days surrounding the Christmas holiday have historically been some of the most bullish times of the year. Dating back to 1988, the second day before Christmas (which fell on yesterday this year) is the most bullish, with the S&P 500 rising more than 70% of the time over the past 36 years. That tre ...

Apple has asked to participate in Google’s upcoming US antitrust trial over online search, saying it cannot rely on Google to defend revenue-sharing agreements that send the iPhone maker billions of dollars each year for making Google the default search engine on its Safari browser.Apple does not plan to build its own search engine to compete with Alphabet’s Google, whether or not the payments continue, the company’s lawyers said in court papers filed in Washington on Monday. Apple received an estimated $20 ...

Is Apple on the verge of becoming a $4 trillion company?As Reuters reported Monday (Dec. 23), the company has pulled in front of Nvidia and Microsoft in the race for this historic valuation. Apple’s shares have climbed 16% since earlier last month, adding around $500 billion to its market capitalization, the report said.The uptick reflects “investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and an expectation that it will result in a supercycle of iPhone upgrades,” said Tom Forte, an analyst at Maxim Group, wh ...

I have just added BB Seguridade Participações S.A. ( OTCPK:BBSEY ) and the Schwab Short-Term U.S. Treasury ETF™ (NYSEARCA: SCHO ) to The Dividend Income Accelerator Portfolio, which I have been documenting on Seeking Alpha for almost oneI specialize in constructing investment portfolios aimed at generating additional income through dividends. My focus lies on identifying companies with significant competitive advantages and strong financials that can provide you with an attractive Dividend Yield and Dividen ...

Apple has regained the throne as the world’s most valuable company as the tech giant closes in on a historic $4 trillion market capitalization.Despite a lackluster start for the stock earlier this year, Apple returned to its former glory and is back to outpacing the major US indexes. After a series of higher highs, Apple shares are now breaking out to new all-time highs in December as the iPhone maker benefits from continued strength in the large-cap tech space. The bullish theme around artificial intellige ...

As President Donald Trump is about to embark on his second term, the tech industry is preparing for significant regulatory changes. The future seems uncertain, while many expect a highly deregulatory environment under Trump, many others expect continued or even heightened scrutiny of Big Tech. The appointment of Andrew Ferguson as Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair, who “will end Big Tech’s vendetta against competition and free speech,” suggests a complex regulatory environment ahead.Tech companies are no ...

Apple is poised to become the first company to cross the $4 trillion threshold — powered by investors cheering progress the tech giant’s long-awaited AI enhancements to rejuvenate sluggish iPhone sales.The company has pulled ahead of Nvidia and Microsoft in the race to the monumental milestone, thanks to an about 16% jump in shares since early November that has added about $500 billion to its market capitalization.Apple’s stock was trading at around $255 a share just after the opening bell on Monday, puttin ...

Despite a rapidly changing tech landscape, few investors are likely to dispute the assertion that Apple (AAPL 1.88%) stock will remain a long-term winner. While its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities may not receive as much attention as those of Nvidia or Palantir, its massive resources, improving technology, and customer loyalty will likely keep the company a major force in its industry for some time to come.Knowing those attributes, investors may have trouble reconciling the investment case for App ...