From 1965 through 2024, Warren Buffett's investing skills delivered a cumulative return of 5,502,284% for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Buffett's focus on investing in quality companies when their stocks trade at attractive valuations is a sound strategy for building wealth in the stock market.
Here are two recent additions to Berkshire's stock portfolio that are timely buys right now.
1. Amazon
Amazon's (AMZN -1.12%) dominance in online retail and cloud services pushed the stock to new highs in 2024. Berkshire Hathaway bought a stake in the online tech titan in 2019, and still held 10 million shares in the fourth quarter. The stock's recent pullback makes it an excellent time to consider adding shares to your portfolio.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
Amazon's online store continues to report solid growth in a growing $4 trillion e-commerce market. But most of Amazon's revenue now comes from various service businesses, including merchant fees, advertising, subscriptions, and its cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Revenue from AWS is the fastest-growing business, with constant-currency revenue up 19% year over year in the fourth quarter.
Amazon's investments in artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support growth in the cloud is also benefiting its online retail business. Amazon is using AI for its warehouse robots, managing inventory, and improving delivery speeds. The use of robotics in warehouses is saving the company a lot of money that can translate to higher profitability and shareholder returns. Last year, Amazon's net income nearly doubled to $59 billion, as management continued to focus on ways to lower costs in fulfilling orders.
Of course, Amazon also still has enormous opportunities, meeting growing demand for enterprise services with AWS. Amazon offers its own custom processors that improve cost and performance for companies working with AI services. AWS generated $108 billion in cloud revenue last year out of a growing $330 billion cloud market, according to Synergy Research.
Using Amazon's cash from operations (CFO) per share, the stock's price-to-CFO multiple has fluctuated between 12 and 48 going back to 2005. Amazon shares currently trade at a price-to-CFO multiple of 18. This makes Amazon an attractive buy right now, considering it has more than doubled CFO since 2022 and could grow it further from margin improvement.
2. Constellation Brands
One new stock buy for Berkshire Hathaway in Q4 was Constellation Brands (STZ 1.26%), a leading alcohol beverage conglomerate. Constellation Brands saw its share price plummet at the start of the year following its fiscal third-quarter earnings report, creating an attractive buying opportunity for patient investors.
NYSE: STZ
Key Data Points
Constellation is the top seller of imported beer in the U.S. It owns popular brands like Modelo and Corona that are capitalizing on a growing beer market. It also owns seven of the top 100 best-selling high-end wine brands in the U.S., including Meiomi and Kim Crawford, which both rank in the top 10.
The industry has been trending more to premium brands. Since 2012, U.S. revenue from premium beer brands has increased from 33% to over 60% across the industry, and Constellation saw this opportunity early and positioned itself to benefit. The company's brands have contributed to the majority of the industry's premium growth.
Despite reporting stable sales of $2.4 billion and a 21% year-over-year increase in net income last quarter, the stock is down 16% year to date. A weak consumer spending environment is forcing top brands to lower prices to drive demand. Additionally, tariffs on imports from Mexico that are set to go into effect on April 2 raises uncertainty about near-term demand trends. That said, Constellation's beer business grew faster than the industry average during the fiscal third quarter, which reflects solid brand strength.
Investing in top consumer brands when the broader economy is experiencing weakness is usually a good bet. Eventually, consumer spending picks up again. Investors who bought top stocks at low valuations earn outstanding returns on the recovery. Shares of Constellation Brands currently trade at a bargain valuation of 13 times this year's consensus earnings estimate. Moreover, the company pays out over 40% of free cash flow in dividends, bringing the forward yield to an above-average 2.19%.
