The investment thesis fits Buffett's lens precisely. The Times possesses an irreplaceable brand moat with 175 years of history, digital subscription revenues growing 14% annually, and gross margins stabilized around 48%, demonstrating the pricing power he has always prized in media. NYT has also diversified intelligently. Wordle became a cultural phenomenon. The Athletic acquisition brought the world's largest sports journalism operation into the fold. Cooking offers 25,000+ vetted recipes. This is a portfolio of habit-forming content products anchoring daily routines for millions.
In his final quarter as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway ( NYSE: BRK-B), Warren Buffett reallocated his technology holdings. In the process, he sold 75% of his Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) position, according to Bloomberg. He has held the stock since 2019. Buffett also reduced his investment in Apple ( NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction), a move he has made for several quarters. Like many of the world's largest investors, Buffett does not always provide a rationale for buying or selling a stock.
That said, when looking at truly world-class investors with exposure to single-stock names, I thought I'd look for one non-Magnificent-7 stock I think may be intriguing for investors to consider. I think I have it. I'm going to discuss why Costco ( NASDAQ:COST) appears to be so widely-owned in the world of wealthy investors, and why this stock may also be perfect for a small retail investor as well right now.
Warren Buffett is to investing what Einstein was to physics, Edison was to invention, and Mozart was to music. There will never be another one like him, and you should pity anyone who says they aspire to be "the next Warren Buffett." Whenever I hear someone talk about "the next Warren Buffett," I think of Antonio Salieri, Mozart's inferior rival, played brilliantly by F. Murray Abraham in the movie Amadeus.
The JPMorgan CEO has hiredTodd Combs, one of Buffett's two investment managers at Berkshire Hathaway, to head up a new $10 billion group at the bank and be his special advisor. Bringing Combs into the JPMorgan fold might be as near as Dimon can get to having Buffett himself on his team. "Dimon may very well have viewed Combs as a close proxy for Buffett himself," David Kass, a finance professor and longtime Berkshire blogger, told Business Insider. "Although Dimon could not hire Buffett, he could hire one of his protégés."
As a barometer of US industrial and corporate economic health, the S&P 500 Index has few equals. Over the past decade, less than 15% of professional large-cap fund managers have been able to surpass the performance of the S&P 500. In fact, no less an investing authority than Warren Buffett cited in the 2013 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter: " The goal of the non-professional should not be to pick winners...instead, seek to own a cross-section of businesses that in aggregate are bound to do well. An S&P 500 index fund will achieve this goal."
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway ( )( ) has long viewed Nucor ( ) as a cornerstone of value investing. The Oracle of Omaha first scooped up shares in the 1990s, drawn to Nucor's innovative electric arc furnace technology that revolutionized low-cost steel production. Over decades, this stake has symbolized Buffett's faith in resilient, cash-generating industrial giants. Nucor, America's largest steel producer, has rewarded that patience with consistent dividends and market-beating returns, even through commodity cycles.
Warren Buffett, or the Oracle of Omaha, as he is sometimes known, has built a career and fortune around his eye for sweet investments. He is, in some ways, an old-fashioned investor, one who doesn't seek a quick buck, but who instead digs deep into the heart of a company before making an investment, and often hangs onto those holdings for decades. And what better investment is there than a favorite candy brand?
