Buffett says Apple is the best business Berkshire owns; users would give up a 2nd car before iPhone

Berkshire Hathaway’s yearly meeting was today and chairman/CEO Warren Buffett shared some thoughts about Apple. Along with praising the company as being the best that his conglomerate owns, he believes iPhones have become more important to consumers than a second car. Here are his thoughts on why Apple is such a powerhouse, how much AAPL stock Berkshire owns, and more.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has been bullish on Apple and buying the company’s stock since 2016. Even though he’s reiterated multiple times – including today – that he doesn’t understand devices like iPhone, he understands consumer behavior and how loyal customers are to Apple.

Trying to explain how powerful that loyalty is, last month, Buffett shared in an interview he thinks Apple users wouldn’t give up iPhone for $10,000.

At the annual Berkshire meeting this weekend, he shared another idea for how powerful he sees Apple loyalty (via Yahoo Finance), saying iPhone is a priority over a second car for users:

“Apple is in a position with consumers, where they’re paying maybe $1,500 bucks, or whatever it may be, for a phone,” Buffett said. “And the same people pay $35,000 for having a second car, and [when] they have to give up a second car or give up their iPhone, they’d give up their second car. I mean, it’s an extraordinary product. We don’t have anything like that that we own 100% of, but we’re very, very, very happy to have 5.6%, or whatever it may be, and we’re delighted every 10th of a percent that goes up.”

Buffett’s conviction about Apple has grown over the years. Back in 2020, he said Apple was “probably the best business in the world.”

Today he’s made it clear he sees Apple as number one, dropping the “probably.” Along with the statement that Apple is superior to anything Berkshire fully controls he said the iPhone maker is “a better business than any we own.”

Backing that up, Berkshire’s ~5.6% share of AAPL is now worth roughly $116 billion. And out of the almost $300 billion worth of equity investments Berkshire has, Apple is the top equity holding making up almost 40%. Here are the top 5 equity holdings of Berkshire Hathaway:

• Apple: $116.31 billion
• Bank of America: $33.45 billion
• Chevron: $29.25 billion
• Coca Cola: $25.44 billion
• American Express: $22.40 billion

Following Apple’s fiscal Q2 earningsAAPL shares saw a bump on strong iPhone sales and record Services revenue – even though overall revenue was slightly down.

• Apple Q2 2023 earnings see stock rise 4% despite revenue drop

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