2 Stocks I'd Happily Hold Through Any Stock Market Crash

I own about 45 stocks in my portfolio, and to be perfectly clear, if a stock market crash were to arrive, I'd be highly likely to hang on to all of them. I'll rarely ever sell stocks in a down market, unless something alarming happens within the business itself. One investing rule of thumb I never break is that I'll never sell a stock just because it's down.

Having said that, just because I wouldn't necessarily sell a stock doesn't mean that it wouldn't likely be stressful to hold in a market crash. But some stocks in my portfolio would hold up rather well during a market crash, allowing me to hold on while still sleeping well at night.

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A rock-solid business in any market

If I had to own just one stock amid a market crash, it would be Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B).

For one thing, Berkshire owns a collection of more than 60 subsidiaries, most of which are "evergreen," meaning they perform well regardless of the economy. As an example, people will still need to make their car insurance payments to GEICO in tough times, and they'll still need to make utility payments to Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Perhaps even more important, Berkshire has an unmatched amount of cash at its disposal. At the end of the third quarter, Berkshire had about $382 billion on its balance sheet, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this figure increase when we get fourth-quarter earnings shortly.

This gives Berkshire tremendous financial flexibility to take advantage of investment opportunities if the stock market crashes. After making savvy investments in Bank of America and Goldman Sachs around the time of the financial crisis, Berkshire emerged from that crash an even stronger company, and there's no reason to expect anything different if the market crashes now.

Essential infrastructure, even in a market crash

Prologis (NYSE: PLD) is an industrial real estate investment trust, or REIT, that I'd be happy to hold throughout a market crash. The largest REIT in the market, Prologis owns more than 1 billion square feet of logistics real estate -- properties like distribution centers and warehouses.

In a nutshell, e-commerce isn't going anywhere, even if the stock market is in turmoil. Companies like Amazon, FedEx, and others will still need to move items around the world. We could certainly see demand for new properties decline in tough times, but the long-term trend clearly points to greater e-commerce volume.

These stocks could be under pressure

To be clear, I'm saying that these two businesses should hold up very well in a market crash, and I'd expect both to be less volatile than the overall stock market. But that doesn't mean they won't decline or experience price swings. However, with these two stocks in particular, if they pulled back significantly in a market crash, I would view it as an excellent buying opportunity.

Matt Frankel, CFP has positions in Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, FedEx, and Prologis. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs Group, and Prologis. The Motley Fool recommends FedEx. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.