3 Warren Buffett Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist and 1 to Avoid

The Warren Buffett era is officially over at Berkshire Hathaway, after the venerated CEO stepped down at the end of 2025, capping a 60-year career in leading the Nebraska-based conglomerate.

However, Buffett is not truly gone. While his lieutenant, Greg Abel, now runs the company, Buffett can keep his hand in the business in his new position as chairman of the board. The 95-year-old legendary investor's strategies continue to be at the forefront of Berkshire Hathaway, which maintains an impressive investment portfolio valued at over $300 billion.

In my view, Berkshire Hathaway's holdings will always be filled with Buffett stocks -- companies that reflect Buffett's buy-and-hold strategies, and his desire to invest in quality companies with strong management, dependable earnings, and an insurmountable economic moat.

Let's look at three Buffett stocks that I think are good buys now -- and one Buffett stock that I think is best avoided, at least for now.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Buffett stock No. 1 to buy: Alphabet

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was one of Berkshire Hathaway's final purchases under Buffett's tenure as CEO, as the company disclosed its stake in a November 2025 regulatory filing. Berkshire acquired 17.8 million shares of Alphabet stock at the same time as the company reduced its exposure to another "Magnificent Seven" stock, Apple.

And while Buffett has historically avoided investing in tech stocks, Alphabet fits the Buffett mold for its massive economic moat -- meaning it would be extremely difficult for any company to meaningfully eat into Alphabet's market share and damage its profits.

Alphabet has a massive advantage in internet search volume, with its Google search engine getting more than 90% of the global share. Meanwhile, Google's Chrome browser is almost as dominant, as it currently has a 71% market share.

That gave Alphabet earn $74.18 billion in advertising revenue in the third quarter, which made up the majority of its $102.3 billion in total sales. Google Cloud, the company's cloud computing division, also generated $15.1 billion in revenue and is becoming an increasingly important part of the business.

Buffett stock No. 2 to buy: Amazon

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) had a tough year in 2025, compared to other top tech stocks. Shares rose only 5% on the year as the e-commerce company suffered from the impact of U.S. tariff policy, which roiled markets in the first half of the year.

And while Amazon's e-commerce business is unmatched -- providing that economic moat that Buffett loves -- it's also been expensive lately. Despite generating $106.27 billion in revenue from North America sales and $40.9 billion from its international segment in the third quarter of 2025, Amazon earned a profit margin of only 4.5% from the former and 2.9% from the latter.

Amazon also has one of the largest budgets for capital expenditures, which topped $125 billion in 2025. Some of that is allocated for its warehouses, but much of it is dedicated to building data centers and developing its custom Trainium AI chips -- both crucial components for the highly profitable Amazon Web Services cloud computing division.

Amazon plans to spend even more on capex in 2026, but that spending will be important for Amazon to maintain its leading market share (29% globally) in cloud computing, as well as to automate its fulfillment centers with AI technology, and to reduce its reliance on expensive Nvidia chips. Berkshire Hathaway owns 10 million shares of Amazon stock, and I believe the company is well positioned for a vastly improved year.

Buffett stock No. 3 to buy: Moody's

Buffett began investing in Moody's (NYSE: MCO) 25 years ago, when the company spun off from Dun & Bradstreet. The company is a classic Buffett play, as it's best known for the credit ratings it assigns to companies and governments, providing insight into whether they are good or bad credit risks. Moody's credit ratings are closely watched by regulators and investors because they are a signal of a company's financial health. And because of that, Moody's provides a service that is virtually unmatched in scope.

Revenue in the third quarter was $2 billion, up 11% from a year ago, and the company's earnings per share (EPS) came in at $3.92, up 22% from last year. Moody's also raised its full-year guidance, saying EPS will be in a range of $14.50 to $14.75, which would be an 17% gain at the midpoint. Berkshire Hathaway holds 13.8% of Moody's stock, or about 24.7 million shares.

Buffett stock to avoid: Aon

Aon (NYSE: AON) is an insurance brokerage and risk management firm -- it provides insurance for property, casualty, and a variety of business services, as well as serves as a reinsurance brokerage to other insurers.

In addition, Aon has a human capital services segment that helps its customers with their employee benefits plans, retirement plans, and health insurance cost management. As Buffett's companies have always been heavily involved with insurance companies (for instance, Berkshire Hathaway owns the insurance company GEICO), Aon fits well with the Oracle of Omaha's area of expertise.

Earnings for the third quarter showed revenue up 7% from a year ago, and EPS of $3.05, up 12% from last year. However, shares in the last 12 months are flat, while the S&P 500 had a gain of 18%. In addition, Aon stock has a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.1 right now, which is much higher than the average P/E of 18 in the property/casualty insurance segment.

Although Berkshire Hathaway owns 4.1 million shares, I'm keeping it out of my portfolio until Aon becomes more affordable or shows better performance.

Patrick Sanders has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Moody's, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.