Warren Buffett has been busy making some key acquisitions for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) and changing some of its largest investments. Just as he discloses his investment in yet another large company and is finishing the buyout of another, investors can stand to gain a great deal by following Buffett — particularly as he has invested recently. After all, he is still considered by many to be the greatest investor of modern times.

Now that the market has pulled back, and with investors looking for key value stocks, 24/7 Wall St. has evaluated the most dominant investments Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway hold. We did not just focus on the public stocks listed in the quarterly 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These portfolio changes include the larger preferred investments, the recent huge acquisition, and also the interest in the Kraft-Heinz deal. Our review will give a better picture of how Buffett’s real-money bets are doing for annual income and long-term gains, rather than just trying to choose 10 different stocks that would under-represent “The Real Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio.”

Also, keep in mind that there was a discrepancy between the Berkshire Hathaway quarterly earnings filing value and the total value listed in the 13F filing of company holdings. The latest filing showed that “confidential information has been omitted from the public Form 13F report and filed separately with the U.S. Securities and Exchange.” This means that some the investments made are not public.

These are the most dominant Berkshire Hathaway positions. Because some of these are special calculations and because the true market value may be harder to calculate on some investments, we have listed these solely in alphabetical order. We included only investment in American companies, with the exception of a foreign bond inclusion. In the big four stock holdings, we used the values stated for the June 30 cut-off date with relative value before. In others, the values used were as of the last day of August or the first day of September. Some are also listed just as a cost-basis valuation.

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American Express

> Stake: 151 million common shares
> Value: $11.8 billion

The American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) holding has not changed from its over 151 million shares for years. The value was listed as $11.8 billion as of June 30, versus $13.3 billion at the end of 2014, after the stock price has been battered. Still, Buffett has held American Express since the 1980s and he does not have to care about the recent sharp price drop as possibly wiping out his entire gain. Even though American Express has an unimpressive dividend yield of about 1.4%, Buffett’s cost basis is so low that his yield is far greater. One thing likely keeping from Buffett from selling the stake is a multi-billion capital gains bill that would have to be paid if he sold.

Bank of America
> Stake: Preferred shares
> Value: $5.0 billion (cost basis)

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is one of Buffett’s top banking stakes, built after he invested $5 billion in preferred shares and warrants in 2011. Pardon this visual image, but Buffett said at the time that he came up with the idea to invest while he was in the bathtub. Berkshire Hathaway owns 50,000 shares of 6% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock in Bank of America with a liquidation value of $100,000 per share and warrants to purchase 700,000,000 shares of common stock. Bank of America may not redeem the preferred shares before May 7, 2019, and the redemption price is $105,000 per share (or $5.25 billion in aggregate). Buffett’s warrants expire in 2021 and are exercisable for an additional aggregate cost of $5 billion ($7.142857 per share) — at this time, Buffett has one serious profit.

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Charter Communications

> Stake: 8.51 million common shares
> Value: $1.4 billion

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) is a stake that is relatively new. Its size has been gradually raised in recent quarters after the initial investment in 2014. Charter shares were at $188 a share less than two weeks ago, and they fell to almost $170 before recovering to above $180 during the pullback. Charter’s merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House is just adding enhanced value beyond Buffett’s initial intention according to most experts. Berkshire Hathaway owns 7.6% of the outstanding Charter shares, but the NewCo stake will be smaller once the mergers close. If Berkshire wants to own more Charter shares after the merger, it can invest another $1 billion before reaching the 10% stakeholder threshold.
Coca-Cola
> Stake: 400 million common shares
> Value: $15.7 billion

Berkshire owns the same stake of 400 million Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) shares that it has for years. Despite some criticism about Buffett not being tough enough on the company over executive compensation, Buffett considers Coca-Cola a staple for investors — and for his personal, daily calorie consumption. The latest earnings report showed this stake as being worth $15.7 billion, down from $16.9 billion at the end of 2014. Buffett started buying Coca-Cola stock in the 1980s, and his adjusted cost basis with dividends gets closer and closer to zero each year. Buffett likely was consulted by Coke management over how to most efficiently invest in Green Mountain and in Monster Beverage.

DaVita

> Stake: 38.5 million common shares
> Value: $3.0 billion

The stake in DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (NYSE: DVA) is the same 38.565 million shares as of June. Prior to March, Berkshire raised its stake in DaVita on and off in prior quarters. Buffett has entered into a standstill agreement not to buy more than 25% of the company after having increased the stake in prior quarters. Berkshire owns almost 18% of the outstanding shares and is the largest single holder. DaVita is a dominant player in kidney dialysis, and it may be many years before any serious alternative to this treatment exists. Kidney disease treatment is also among the most costly health care treatments.

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Deere
> Stake: 17.31 million common shares
> Value: $1.7 billion

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) has been a mixed holding for Buffett because it was held once and then sold. Now, the stake of 17.3 million shares was worth about $1.4 billion as of the end of August. Deere is one of the top brands in America and sells globally. It may be suffering from a strong dollar and slower growth in weaker nations right now, but it thrives during product periods that tend to by cyclical. Deere’s focus on farming and agriculture helps buffer the construction and forestry dependence. Berkshire Hathaway is the third largest institution owning Deere shares, and it will be the largest holder of all if it buys just under 3 million more shares — and that is still only a 6% holder of the outstanding shares.

DirecTV (… or is AT&T?)

> Stake: Over 13 million common shares
> Value: $2.9 billion (more after merger)

Owning almost $3 billion worth of a company like DirecTV going into a merger closing with AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), many investors will wonder what Buffett and his portfolio managers are thinking. Based on an ownership stake in Verizon and other cable companies, it seems as though they want to have a telecom and data-pipe for media distribution. This stake will no longer appear under DirecTV, but Buffett made a big bet. In the buyout Buffett stands to get cash back and receive AT&T shares — as long as he keeps his holdings until the deal closes. With Buffett’s portfolio managers owning Verizon shares as well, it seems as though this may have been a likely telecom and media bet that could grow ahead.

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Dow Chemical
> Stake: Preferred shares
> Value: $3.0 billion (cost)

Berkshire Hathaway invested $3 billion in 2009 into preferred shares of Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW). Berkshire owns 3,000,000 shares of cumulative convertible perpetual preferred stock of Dow with a liquidation value of $1,000 per share, and each preferred share is convertible into 24.201 shares of Dow common stock, equivalent to a conversion price of $41.32 per share. Dow has the option to convert some or all the preferred shares into Dow common stock at the then applicable conversion rate (if the NYSE closing price exceeds $53.72 per common share for any 20 trading days within a period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the day before Dow exercises its option). The Dow Preferred is entitled to dividends at a rate of 8.5% per annum.

General Motors

> Stake: 41 million shares
> Value: $1.4 billion

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was the one Big Three auto-maker stakes that Buffett and his portfolio managers bought after the recession. Berkshire Hathaway first invested into GM’s common stock by purchasing 10 million shares in 2012, when the stock was in the lower $20 range and before its dividend had become big. With these large “bets on America,” the only real surprise to at least some investors is that Buffett and his portfolio managers have not acquired even more GM shares. Owning the GM stake predates Buffett’s decision to go into ownership of car dealerships via its Van-Tuyl investment.

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Goldman Sachs
> Stake: 12.63 million common shares
> Value: $2.7 billion

The stake held in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) dates back to the recession, when CEO Lloyd Blankfein got Buffett to invest $5 billion in preferred securities with a 10% payment. That stake in preferred shares has been redeemed, but the common shares are tied to the warrants Buffett got with a strike around $115.00. Needless to say, the pullback from almost $2.8 billion to $2.3 billion of late has not hurt Buffett much, considering his cost-basis cushion. Goldman Sachs became a Dow Jones Industrial Average component in the years after Buffett invested, and he has kept the shares of the premiere bulge-bracket investment banking firm.
IBM

> Stake: 79.5 million common shares
> Value: $12.9 billion

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is a top-four holding of Berkshire Hathaway. IBM’s latest stake was listed as the same 79.5 million shares as last quarter, although Buffett has hinted at buying more, and likely bought even more during the August panic selling. The value of IBM as of June 30 was listed as $12.9 billion, up from the $12.8 billion at the end of the first quarter. Buffett has added to the IBM stake in prior quarters. The end of 2014 position was 76.971 million IBM shares, up from 70.478 million shares in the third quarter of 2014 and 70.173 million last summer. What Buffett likes with IBM is the core IT business. He also likes the stock buybacks that keep engineering higher earnings per share numbers.

Kraft Heinz

> Stake: Common/Preferred
> Value: $12.3 billion

Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ: KHC) has been around for quite some time, partly from owning Kraft and then after participating in the 3G-Heinz acquisition. Buffett made a multibillion investment in Heinz, that was run by investment firm 3G, which he used to own many more Kraft shares. He continues to have a small stake in Mondelez. Berkshire’s initial investments consisted of 425 million shares of Heinz Holding common stock and warrants, which were exercised in June 2015, to acquire approximately 46 million additional shares of common stock at one cent per share, and cumulative compounding preferred stock with a liquidation preference of $8 billion. The aggregate cost of these investments was $12.25 billion. Kraft Heinz intends to call the preferred stock after, from June 2016 to June 2017, but legally it has no obligation to do so. Berkshire’s filing showed that it owned about 26.9% of the newly combined company, but this stake has not been as straightforward as other merger deals.

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Moody’s

> Stake: 24.67 million common shares
> Value: $2.66 billion

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) is one of the positions that Buffett has had for years, although he has lowered his stake from the peak. Despite the recession and the pullback, Buffett first bought the stock in 2000 for around $500 million. Needless to say, Buffett still has a profit from the investment, and the old scandals about credit ratings agencies are not substantial any longer. He has sold part of this stake to bring in funds to help with acquisitions like the BNSF rail deal. During the recession, this was one of those investments that some investors thought Buffett made the wrong bet. That was then.

Phillips 66
> Stake: 57.9 million common shares
> Value: $4.5 billion

Buffett tricked the market into thinking he hated energy because he and his portfolio managers had shown over and over that they were net sellers of oil patch stocks. It turns out that Buffett had this holding included as confidential data with the SEC while he was accumulating a larger stake of Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX). What is notable about this stake is that Berkshire Hathaway now owns over 10% of the outstanding shares. This now means that it is subject to higher scrutiny and rules when it comes to buying or selling shares. Buffett could still sell or buy more shares, but most investors do not own more than 10% of a company if they want in for a quick profit.

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Precision Castparts

> Stake: 4.2 million common shares, or all of it!
> Value: $840.0 million … or is it over $30 billion?

Precision Castparts Corp. (NYSE: PCP) may now seem immaterial since Berkshire Hathaway has made a formal acquisition of the company. That is after Berkshire increased its stake to 4.2 million shares in March from 2.853 million shares at the end of 2014, and versus 2.08 million shares previously. What stands out is that this makes investors wonder if Buffett will make other acquisitions of portfolio companies he owns just by raising his stake. Acquisitions worth $30 billion are not generally easy to do for most companies, particularly when the entire buyout is in cash.
Procter & Gamble
> Stake: 52.8 million shares … maybe
> Value: $4.1 billion

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) holdings have remained officially the same at 52.8 million shares, and the stake is likely to disappear because this position was part of the Duracell swap. The stake was also previously lowered in 2012 after a peak of 96.3 million shares. Where this investment stands is based on a technical problem because of the swap. Buffett would probably have been more than comfortable owning the world’s largest consumer products company. Buffett’s huge Procter & Gamble stake dates back to when Buffett owned a large number of Gillette shares. He liked the deal enough at the time that he even bought more Procter & Gamble shares after the company bought Gillette. If Buffett ever buys back into P&G, even if his entire stake is gone, it should not be a surprise. Procter & Gamble is the biggest global consumer products company in the world, and operates in a sector he favors

Restaurant Brands International

> Stake: Common/Preferred
> Value: $3.0 billion (cost basis)

Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE: QSR) appeared as a new holding in late 2014, but this is  due to investing in the Burger King and Tim Hortons merger. Berkshire Hathaway’s June 30 stake was over 8.4 million common shares, worth about $322 million at the end of August. The issue now is that Berkshire Hathaway acquired Class A 9% cumulative compounding perpetual preferred shares of RBI with a stated value of $3 billion and common stock of RBI for an aggregate cost of $3 billion. RBI is now domiciled in Canada, and the combined investment in RBI possessed approximately 14.4% of the voting interests of RBI.

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U.S. Bancorp
> Stake: 85.06 million shares
> Value: $3.7 billion

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) has been a multiyear and continually growing position for Buffett, and the stake was raised by more than 1 million shares last quarter to 85.06 million shares. This has grown from 80.09 million shares at the end of 2014. It was only 23 million at the start of 2007. It is one of the banks that likely would have been fine through the recession. The bank is considered high credit quality, but the reality is that Buffett’s gains are mostly tied to post-recession continued buying and bolstered by a 2.4% dividend yield.

Wal-Mart
> Stake: 60.4 million common shares
> Value: $4.3 billion

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was the same stake as in the previous quarter at 60.385 million shares, but this had been raised prior to 2014. Wal-Mart may not be loved by many Americans for the time being, but based on its growth and sales data, Wal-mart may soon have $500 billion in revenue. With Buffett loving “all-in bets on America,” he has to love Wal-Mart. The company is also among the U.S.-based megacaps with a $208 billion value. This means that Buffett could park literally an exponential amount more than Berkshire Hathaway already owns if he chooses to and it would hardly impact the trading of Wal-Mart, as long as he spread it out over days or a week.

Wells Fargo
> Stake: 470 million common shares
> Value: $27.6 billion

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is the largest stake among all of Buffett’s passive investments. This stake of 470.3 million shares was the same as the March 31 quarter-end. The quarterly earnings showed a Wells Fargo share value of $27.6 billion as of June 30, better than the $26.7 billion at the end of March. Buffett has stalled in aggressive buying in Wells Fargo of late. There is also the notion that Berkshire’s stake is about 9.1% of the entire float, so Buffett simply may not be able to own more without more regulatory and more governance issues. If Buffett had his way, he would probably add to the stake by writing put options and by buying shares directly. As far as an “all-in bet on America,” Wells Fargo dominates in mortgages.

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Foreign Government Bonds
> Stake: N/A
> Value: $12.0 billion

Berkshire Hathaway and its financial subsidiaries are major owners of U.S. corporate and Treasury bonds. The total ownership is hard to evaluate due to many of those bond holdings offsetting insurance liabilities, but it is interesting to see that Berkshire Hathaway still has foreign bonds owned on its books. These most recently were shown as having a carry value of $11.83 billion, with a fair market value listed as $12.048 billion. These have been issued by national and provincial government entities, or are unconditionally guaranteed by such entities. As of June 30, 2015, approximately 94% of foreign government holdings were rated AA or higher by at least one of the major rating agencies. Roughly 75% of foreign government holdings were issued or guaranteed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, or the Netherlands.

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