2 Top Buffett Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Haul

Key Points

• Buffett's firm Berkshire Hathaway has made many investors rich since first opening its stock to the public over six decades ago.

• In addition to its many wholly owned businesses, the conglomerate manages a diversified stock portfolio worth roughly $300 billion.

• 10 stocks we like better than Coca-Cola ›

Warren Buffett will likely go down in history as the greatest investor of all time. He has been investing for decades, and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, has made many of its long-term shareholders rich. Between 1964 and 2024, Berkshire's stock generated compound annual gains of 19.9%, well ahead of the broader benchmark S&P 500's 10.4% gains (including dividends).

Cumulatively, an investment made in the stock in 1964 would have increased in value by more than 5.5 million percent as of the end of 2024. And a notable share of that growth has been powered by the conglomerate's extensive stock portfolio, which today is valued at close to $300 billion. That's why investors are always curious about what stocks Berkshire is buying and selling.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

With Buffett set to step down as the company's CEO at the end of the year, there is even more of a focus on Berkshire's portfolio right now. Here are two Buffett stocks I'd recommend buying and holding for the long haul.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Coca-Cola: A steady Eddy through the cycle

Iconic beverage company Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) is one of the longest-held positions in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. Buffett and his team first bought the stock in the late 1980s. He has always favored companies with strong brands because those brands become competitive advantages, enhancing a business's ability to retain customers long term, even during the tougher periods of the economic cycle.

In his 2022 annual letter to shareholders, the Oracle of Omaha discussed how reliable Coca-Cola's dividend had been. All he and his late business partner, Charlie Munger, had to do with regard to that investment was "cash Coke's quarterly dividend checks." In 1994, after investing a total of $1.3 billion in Coca-Cola stock over several years, Berkshire collected annual dividends of $75 million from the beverage giant. By 2022, the annual dividends on that position had grown to $704 million.

Coca-Cola is an excellent pick for generating passive income. Indeed, it's a Dividend King -- one of a small number of companies that increased their dividend payouts annually for at least 50 consecutive years. Earlier this year, Coca-Cola announced its 63rd straight annual dividend hike, and its yield at the current share price is now close to 3%.

But aside from the dividend, Coca-Cola is one of the strongest consumer staple stocks, and it's a good idea for long-term investors to have some exposure to consumer staples because these companies can perform through every phase of the economic cycle. Even when the economy is struggling, most people who like Coca-Cola's beverages are going to keep drinking them.

Additionally, so far, Coca-Cola has done a pretty good job of managing the tariff headwinds, and management is still projecting organic revenue growth of 5% to 6% in 2025.

2. Amazon: Two dominant businesses

Over the years, Buffett has shown a willingness to wade into new sectors. For many years, Apple has been Berkshire Hathaway's largest stock position. But another tech company in its portfolio that is sure to be a beneficiary of the artificial intelligence revolution is Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). With its $2.45 trillion market capitalization, Amazon is one of the five largest companies in the world, and it operates two phenomenal businesses: its massive e-commerce platform and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The e-commerce business is a logistical masterpiece that can source nearly any product and usually have it at a customer's door within a day or two. Not only does Amazon generate its largest chunk of revenue from online sales, it also brings in a significant amount from third-party sellers that do business through its platform. The Amazon Prime membership service, which includes free shipping and Prime Video, among other perks, gives the company another durable stream of recurring revenue.

While President Donald Trump's tariffs do pose a challenge to this part of the business, Amazon will likely be able to pass some or all of the costs from those import taxes on to its consumers, and it has the operational strength to weather the storm. Online sales at Amazon rose 11% year over year in the second quarter, while subscription services and third-party seller revenue rose 12% and 11%, respectively.

Meanwhile, AWS continues to be the global leader in cloud infrastructure, where it maintained a 30% market share in the second quarter of 2025, according to CRN. AWS enables companies to move their data and processing to data centers that Amazon owns and operates, allowing them to forego the costs and hassle of operating complex IT infrastructure.

AWS is also primed to leverage this business to roll out artificial intelligence tools and large language models for companies to run their own AI applications. While the cloud is not exactly a novel concept anymore, a large share of the world's organizations have yet to embrace it, which leaves AWS well positioned for further growth.

Amazon's stock is only up about 4% this year, largely due to investors' concerns about how tariffs will impact the company. It trades slightly under 35 times expected forward earnings, which is below the company's five-year average of just over 38, giving investors the opportunity to buy the stock at a reasonable price point.

Should you invest $1,000 in Coca-Cola right now?

Before you buy stock in Coca-Cola, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Coca-Cola wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $664,110!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,104,355!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,069% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 186% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 25, 2025

Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.