Charlie Munger’s Protege Put 43% of His Portfolio in One Stock — and It’s Up 133% in a Year

Li Lu, a man also known as the Chinese Warren Buffett and a close friend of the late, great Charlie Munger, is having quite a solid year. Lu runs the show over at Himalaya Capital, which has a relatively small, concentrated portfolio of some outstanding businesses. Clearly, Li Lu isn’t afraid to overweight his best ideas, and, so far this year, the move has paid off in a big way. Why di-worsify when you can simply own more of what you deem to be trading at a colossal discount to intrinsic value?

For investors looking for a fund manager who invests quite similarly to the great Charlie Munger, the holdings of Himalaya Capital are well worth a look. With a focus on decently valued, incredibly high-quality businesses with wide economic moats, the portfolio is worth keeping tabs on, whether you’re a fan of Charlie Munger or the great Warren Buffett.

In this piece, we’ll look at a few of the big drivers that are doing more than their fair share of lifting so far this year. While Li Lu’s latest moves (from the first quarter of this year) are not quite out yet, it is worth noting that the Himalaya portfolio has not been subject to big changes in any given quarter. In other words, Li Lu is a very long-term investor who’s completely fine with sitting around and letting his holdings do the talking. In my view, it doesn’t really get more Charlie Munger-like than that!

Alphabet

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction) is, by far, the largest holding in the Himalaya portfolio, with a weighting of more than 43%. Indeed, there aren’t that many investors out there, including in the smart money crowd, who’d be comfortable with such a heavy weighting to a top stock. It’s such a large position that it’s similar to the allocation to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) that Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) had before it trimmed down the position.

In any case, Himalaya hasn’t been di-worsifying this year, with Alphabet stock now up a very impressive 22% year to date and 133% in the past year. With Alphabet coming off a phenomenal quarter and many drivers that could cause a further multiple re-rating, I think that anything heavy in Alphabet could be the key to success for the year. As a long-term investor, I’d look for the heavy position to keep running. While profit-taking might make sense at some point, we’ll have to wait and see what Li Lu decides to do.

Personally, I think it makes more sense to add to a position than to trim, especially since Alphabet stock still trades at a very reasonable 29.3 times trailing price-to-earnings (P/E). For a frontier-grade AI innovator, that’s a compelling discount that warrants an overweight position, at least in my view.

Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) is having an exceptional year, now up just over 40% year to date, thanks to the sudden spike in oil prices due to the situation going on in the Strait of Hormuz. While the Occidental position is quite small (worth less than 2% as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025), I think it’s safe to say that the energy play, which Berkshire also owns, is doing more than its fair share of heavy lifting.

Even after a respectable year-to-date surge, the stock still looks far from expensive, especially given the risk of oil staying in the triple-digits for longer. With Occidental shares taking a mild hit (of around 2%) after beating first-quarter earnings, perhaps there’s an opportunity to get in on the oil price-sensitive energy play as volatility sets in.

Perhaps it’s less about oil’s next big move and more about the kind of value that a name like Occidental brings to the table. It’s common knowledge that Berkshire has been a buyer, but it’s only recently that the name has looked like more than a soured investment.