The Best Warren Buffett Stocks to Buy With $1,000 Right Now -- Including Chevron (CVX) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)

Key Points

• Berkshire Hathaway encompasses many wholly owned companies.

• At the same time, it also owns a wide range of stocks in its portfolio.

• It's worth checking out what Buffett and his co-investors are doing.

• 10 stocks we like better than Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ›

I've often warned people not to blindly copy anyone else's investing moves, and I stick by that advice, as each of us has different investing goals, timelines, risk tolerances, and so on. It's not crazy, however, to at least look at what some smart investors are buying (or selling) to see if any companies pique your interest. If they do, you can dig deeper and then make your own investment decision.

A particularly good investor to look at would be Warren Buffett, who increased the value of shares of his company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) by an average annual rate of 19.8% over some 60 years. (If you're not amazed, consider that over those same 60 years, the S&P 500 index averaged annual gains of just 10.2%.)

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Whether you have $1,000 or $100,000 to invest, here are four Berkshire Hathaway stocks for you to consider. Note that each is not necessarily a Buffett pick, as he does have two investing lieutenants in Ted Weschler and Todd Combs -- and Buffett himself is 95 now.

1. Chevron

Energy titan Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is Berkshire's fifth-largest stock holding, and Berkshire now owns nearly 7% of it. It's a stellar dividend-paying stock, with a recent generous 4.3% dividend yield. It's also been a big stock repurchaser, with its reduced share count leaving each remaining share more valuable. (When you add its dividend payments and share repurchases, its total yield for shareholders was recently 9.1%.)

What's so compelling about Chevron? Well, it's a cash-generating machine, for starters, which is a good thing if you're in it for the dividend payments. (It's been increasing its payouts by an annual average of about 6.5% over the past five years, by the way, and has upped its dividends for 38 consecutive years.)

It's also a low-cost operation, able to wring more profit per barrel of oil than most or all of its peers. Chevron has solid growth prospects, too. Its acquisition of Hess should boost its cash flow, and a project in Kazakhstan appears promising, too. Additionally, Chevon has invested in alternative energies.

Its recent forward-looking, price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16.5 is above its five-year average of 13.2, suggesting that the stock is not undervalued. So if this stock interests you, you should ideally be planning to hold it for many years.

2. Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) is another Berkshire holding, and Berkshire recently owned 27% of the company. Occidental is one of America's largest independent oil and gas producers, and its chemical business, OxyChem, is working to reduce emissions. (Berkshire is actually in talks to acquire OxyChem -- for $10 billion.)

The company's prospects are promising for a variety of reasons. For one thing, with Ukraine attacking Russian oil plants, rising oil prices can provide a tailwind. Even without that, Occidental has major assets in the Permian Basin, which is a low-cost region in which to produce energy. Occidental has been carrying a lot of debt due to acquisitions, but it's been paying its debt down effectively.

Like Chevron, Occidental is an energy company and dividend payer, but its recent yield was just 2%. Still, Occidental has been getting its groove back and may grow faster than Chevron in the near future.

3. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

I'm considering the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO), a Buffett stock, for a particular reason: Berkshire may not own much of this S&P 500 index fund, but Buffett has heartily recommended it -- for his wife and the rest of us. It's technically not a stock. It's an exchange-traded fund (ETF) -- a fund that trades like a stock.

In case you don't know, the S&P 500 is an index of 500 of America's biggest companies, from Apple to Zoetis (a leading animal health company). Together, these 500 companies account for about 80% of the total value of the U.S. stock market. The S&P 500 has a solid, long-term performance record, too, averaging annual returns of close to 10% over long periods, and it even offers a small, but growing dividend.

For many, investing in a low-fee S&P 500 index fund can be all you need to build wealth over decades.

4. Berkshire Hathaway

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the possibility of investing in Berkshire Hathaway itself, because you can do that, and by doing so, you'll be along for the ride, profiting from all its investments.

Berkshire has been an amazing stock performer in recent decades, but we should expect somewhat slower growth going forward. It will still grow, though, and the company has been built to last, encompassing scores of wholly owned subsidiaries (such as GEICO and the BNSF railroad) and lots of stocks, too. (It owns more than 21% of American Express, for example, 37% of Sirius XM Holdings, and 9% of Coca-Cola.)

Consider some or all of these stocks for berths in your portfolio. Whether you have $1,000 or $100,000, you might spread it across several of these -- or perhaps just stick with an S&P 500 index fund and/or shares of Berkshire.

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American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Selena Maranjian has positions in Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Chevron, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and Zoetis. The Motley Fool recommends Occidental Petroleum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.