Investing

5 Stocks Warren Buffett Likely Bought More of During the Sell-Off

With such a crazy week, with stocks tanking and then rifling back up, it is a wonder that the name Warren Buffett has not been thrown around like hot potatoes. After all, his mantra is to get greedy when others are fearful and to be fearful when others are greedy. With such a deep stock market correction on Monday and Tuesday, 24/7 Wall St. cannot help but expect that Buffett sent his stock broker some orders to buy stocks on the cheap.

This last sell-off was one of those events when it just did not pay to be fearful. We have identified such stocks that Buffett probably nibbled on to add to his positions.

What is important about deciding to buy on pullbacks is that not all sell-offs are equal. They are not even equal among sectors, and often not even equal among peers inside each sector.

IBM

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) would seem to be a sure bet that Buffett and his team added to. He hinted at buying more shares even before the last filing came out, but those new shares did not show up in his filing. If he did buy or wanted to buy more IBM shares after June 30, why would he not have bought more on Monday and Tuesday? IBM was at $155 just 10 days ago, and the shares fell to well under $140 for real trades this week. Even at $148 or so now, if Buffett did not add shares, he is going to be singled out.

IBM was listed as being the same 79.5 million shares in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio as of June 30. The value of IBM as of June 30 was said to be $12.9 billion, up from the $12.8 billion at the end of the first quarter. IBM even received a pretty aggressive analyst upgrade this week, something we are not used to seeing of late.

ALSO READ: 10 Stocks That Have Ignored the Recent Massive Sell-Off

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a position that Buffett has been much slower to add to in recent quarters. He is reaching a threshold at 9.1% of the outstanding shares, at which buying shares could come with regulatory issues, but for this stock to have pulled back 10%, it seems obvious that Buffett would have been chomping at the bit to buy more shares.

Its 470.3 million shares makes Berkshire Hathaway the largest holder by far. Its value was $27.6 billion as of June 30. This is by far Buffett’s favorite bank, and he has billions of dollars worth of profits already here.
Charter Communications

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) has been gradually raised in recent quarters, almost certainly by one of the portfolio managers rather than by Buffett himself. At 8.51 million shares at end of June, this stake has moved higher since becoming a new stake in 2014. Charter shares were at $188 less than two weeks ago and they fell to almost $170 before recovering to $181 or so. The merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House is just added gravy here by most views. Berkshire Hathaway already owns 7.6% of the outstanding shares, but that will be smaller once the mergers close — meaning Team Buffett can buy even more with ease.

ALSO READ: Deutsche Bank Says Stick With Top Stocks Growing Dividends

DaVita

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was the same stake at the end of June as the prior quarter at 38.565 million shares. Before March, this DaVita stake had been raised on and off in prior quarters. Buffett and his portfolio managers are already in a standstill agreement not to buy more than 25% of the company, after already having increased the stake in prior quarters. His stake now is almost 18%, so Buffett can still legally buy millions of more shares — and this stock fell to under $75.00, after having been above $80 less than two weeks ago, and under a high of $85.17, as well as the consensus analyst target of $87.38.

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was kept as the same stake of 60.385 million shares as of June 30, but the truth is that this stake has grown through time. Berkshire Hathaway owns only 1.88% of the outstanding shares, so there are zero regulatory issues. The $212 billion market cap is also large enough that Buffett could park as much cash as he could ever want to and it would not really swing the market in these shares. Wal-Mart shares are now close to $66, after having been at $72 just 10 days ago, and down from a high of just over $90.

Owning a piece of the largest retailer in the world may not be glamorous, but that is not what Buffett cares about. This company still represents retail America better than any other retail giant, and its annual sales of nearly $500 billion should prove it.

ALSO READ: Oppenheimer’s 7 Bull Market Leaders to Buy After the Sell-Off

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