Investing

Warren Buffett Made $37.8 Billion Last Year From These 10 Stocks

Aaron Webber

Published: October 9, 2024 12:30 pm

24/7 Insights

• Warren Buffett’s best-performing stocks include new and legacy corporations in construction, banking, and investments.
• Most experts recommend investors hold these stocks if they already own them, or cautiously buy more.
• 24/7 is your home for all things investing, get started by downloading our free report on the two stocks we recommend every investor buy now.

Nothing unites fans of capitalism more than singing the praises of Warren Buffett. The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A), and one of the most well-known investors in the entire world with a net worth of more than $135 billion (making him the tenth-richest person on the planet), Buffett is the poster child for making money on the stock market.

But of all the stocks he owns, all the companies he’s invested in, and all the businesses he controls, which ones have been the best-performing in 2024? In this article, we explore the ten best-performing stocks owned by Warren Buffett and give some information about those companies, what experts say about their stock, and whether you should invest in them as well.

For this list, we used price data published on the stocks owned by Berkshire Hathaway. This data is current as of the end of September 2024.

Why Are We Talking About This?

Unless you want to pour over every single financial report and follow the performance of every stock in every trading platform, you need some kind of benchmark or guide to help you decide where you want to invest your money. Warren Buffett is often that guide for thousands of people around the world. But following his advice is more than just investing in the same companies, it involves seeing which companies perform better than others and making an informed decision.

Background on Buffett’s Stock

Like all rich investors, Buffett makes his stock trades through his company, Berkshire Hathaway. It owns stock in hundreds of companies around the world, with heavy influence from Buffett on which stocks to buy and which deals to execute. Following their own financial and investment advice, Buffett and his partner Munger grew Berkshire Hathaway’s stock at an average of 20% per year, beating the 10% growth of the S&P 500 while taking on minimal debt.

It owns significant stock in many of the companies you are familiar with, and chances are you don’t go a day without interacting with at least one company owned by Berkshire Hathaway. It has the highest per-share price of any company in the world, with a price of $600,000 in 2024.

For the purposes of this article, we treat Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway as the same entity.

#10 Moody’s Corporation

• 2024 gain: 28.36%

Remember the 2008 financial crisis? Then you probably remember Moody’s (NYSE:MCO), or at least the impact their decisions had on your life. It is a credit rating agency that gives financial ratings for a variety of financial tools and vehicles. It broke into the Fortune 500 in 2021. Its financial ratings are used around the world by financial experts to judge the worth and safety of investment options.

In 2022, Moody’s settled a case for giving lower bond ratings to public bonds. In 2012, Moody’s settled multiple lawsuits with its shareholders over the ratings it gave to finance companies. In 2013, Moody’s settled a lawsuit over the ratings it inflated during the Financial Crisis, misleading investors. In 2017, Moody’s made another settlement to the U.S. Department of Justice over its credit ratings of RMBSs and CDOs which contributed to the 2008 Financial Crisis.  

Is it wise to have a non-government entity, motivated by profit, rating the money-making bonds and stocks and financial vehicles of other companies? Recent history and common sense would say ‘no’, but here we are.

#9 Lennar Corporation

• 2024 gain: 30.51%

The Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) is a home construction business in Florida that operates in most of the United States and is the second-biggest home-building company in the United States when comparing the total number of new homes built and sold.

Since its founding in 1954, Lennar has grown steadily through several acquisitions and the extreme inflation of home prices in the United States.

In 2023, Lennar made $34.23 billion in revenue and $3.938 billion in net income. Besides the homes that it builds, Lennar also has significant investments in multifamily rental properties, and luxury developments, develops its own property technology, and operates its own mortgage lending business.

If you’re looking for one of the culprits of why rents have increased well beyond mean wage growth, Lennar might be at the top of your list. Common sense would argue that a company that makes most of its money through new home sales would be incentivized to make sure that rents remain unaffordable.

#8 Liberty Latin America Ltd.

• 2024 gain: 32.28%

Liberty Latin America (NASDAQ:LILA) used to be part of Liberty Global but separated in 2018. Both corporations are multinational communications companies. Liberty Global is based in Bermuda and is the biggest TV and internet supplier in the Caribbean region. Liberty Latin America, on the other hand, is based in Denver, Colorado with primary operations in Panama City.

Liberty Latin America’s primary business is limited to TV, internet, and telephone services in Puerto Rico, and cell phone, telephone, internet, and television services in Chile. Liberty Latin America’s subsea fiber network connects most of the markets in The Bahamas, Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico, among others. It operates these services, among others, through various local subsidiaries.

Liberty Latin America continues to grow with a recent acquisition of America’s Movil in Panama for around $200 million. After a jump in stock price early this year, it has remained steady at its current price ever since.

#7 NVR, Inc.

• 2024 gain: 38.61%

NVR (NYSE:NVR) is another home construction company based in Virginia. It operates under a handful of brand names and also operates a mortgage banking and title service. It operates in 14 states currently but around 22% of that business is in the Washington D.C. metro area.

NVR itself doesn’t actually develop any of the land it buys. Instead, the subsidiaries of NVR develop the land, making it the 4th-biggest new home construction company in the United States.  

Interestingly, NVR’s stock price is the second-most expensive stock in the entire stock exchange market in the United States, right behind Berkshire Hathaway itself, so it would make sense that Buffett would want to own a little bit of his closest competition.

After recovering from bankruptcy in 1992, the company bounced back and was added to the S&P 500 in 2019.

NVR’s revenue was around $10.5 billion in 2022, with a net income of around $1.2 billion.

#6 American Express Company

• 2024 gain: 42.72%

American Express (NYSE:AXP) is the fourth-biggest credit card network in the entire world based on the volume of purchases made with its cards. It is also one of the biggest banks in the United States and is ranked as the 28th most valuable brand in America by Forbes.

American Express processed around 4.61% of all payment volume in 2022, and is accepted at around 99% of all businesses in the United States, but much less popular abroad, so there is room for improvement!

American Express has grown regularly and steadily for the last few decades, reaching a high point in 2023 with a net income of $8.4 billion, which was 14% higher than experts had predicted. Almost every year since 2009, it has seen regular growth in revenue, reaching $60.5 billion in 2023.

#5 HEICO Corporation

• 2024 gain: 48.71%

HEICO (NYSE:HEI) is an electronics and aerospace manufacturing company that develops equipment used in aircraft, spacecraft, military defense, hospitals, and more. The flight division of HEICO is the biggest provider of FAA-approved replacement parts for aircraft. While it used to manufacture most of its own equipment, HEICO dove heavily into acquiring competitors and niche product developers in 1990. Since then, it has made more than 90 acquisitions and continues to grow.

In 2022, HEICO’s total revenue was $2.2 billion with a net income of $352 million. Most financial experts rate HEICO as a ‘buy’ or ‘strong buy’, and see it continuing to grow.

#4 Louisiana-Pacific Corporation

• 2024 gain: 49.35%

Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) is a manufacturer of building materials based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the biggest producer of oriented strand board used in home construction. It operates 24 wood mills worldwide, all located in North or South America, and even more manufacturing plants. It controls almost a million acres of timberland.

In 2022, Louisiana-Pacific had a revenue of $2.8 billion and a net income of $420 million. The value of Louisiana-Pacific stock has risen regularly for the past several years, sitting now at an all-time peak of around $108. The general consensus among financial experts is that LPX is a ‘hold’ stock for now if you happen to have any. There are a few optimistic ratings, but nobody recommends selling this stock, especially given its strong track record.  

#3 DaVita Inc.

• 2024 gain: 52.62%

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) is a healthcare company that provides kidney dialysis to patients in the United States who are waiting for a kidney transplant. It operates in over 2,600 medical centers and serves over 200,000 patients. Outside the United States, it operates in 367 medical centers and serves over 49,000 patients.

Currently, it has a 37% market share of the dialysis market in the United States. Around 67% of its annual revenue comes from Medicare and similar government insurance and support systems. Over 89% of all of DaVita’s patients were on some kind of government assistance.

DaVita grew quickly through a series of acquisitions after going public in 1995, though in recent years it has faced numerous lawsuits due to illegal kickbacks to doctors, fraud in billing the government for disposed drugs, wrongful deaths, and more. In 2021, former CEO Kent Thiry was arrested for labor market collusion but was acquitted.  

DaVita’s stock performance has been volatile over the last few years, notwithstanding its strong performance this year. Most financial experts give DaVita a ‘hold’ rating, with very few recommending you buy any more.

#2 Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

• 2024 gain: 54.11%

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) is a massive “financial services” company based in New York that invests in several industries and companies. It owns a majority stake in Berkadia Commercial Mortgage (through a partnership with Berkshire Hathaway), HomeFed, FXCM, Vitesse Energy, Juneau Energy, Garcadia Holdings, Linkem, Idaho Timber, National Beef Packing Company, and Foursight Capital. If you’re looking for one of the mysterious organizations that is actively destroying our world and society, Jefferies Financial Group might be at the top of that list.

With significant control over large parts of the world, Jefferies Financial Group’s stock has grown steadily over the past decade, reaching a current high of $62.80. Almost all investment experts agree that investors should buy this stock, giving it a ‘buy’ or ‘strong buy’ rating.

#1 Nu Holdings Ltd.

• 2024 gain: 82.04%

Here we have the top performer in Buffett’s portfolio.

Nu Holdings (NYSE:NU), also known as Nubank, is a bank based in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the biggest financial technology bank in South America with more than 93 million customers in Brazil alone and more than 8 million in Colombia and Mexico.

NuBank was founded in just 2013 and went public in 2021 with a value of $45 million.

Unfortunately, NuBand announced in 2023 that it would begin incorporating generative artificial intelligence in its software, replacing humans as a virtual assistant.

As a relatively new fintech corporation, Nu Holdings has experienced record growth and impressive success, but it remains subject to the trials and problems that all fintech companies have to deal with. It remains to be seen if Nubank is a company that will stand the test of time, or fades away like many of its predecessors. That being said, analysts generally give NuBank a ‘buy’ rating, given its upward trajectory, with nearly the same amount giving it a ‘hold’ rating.