The Favored Blue Chips at the Heart of Buffett’s Portfolio

Warren Buffett was in a buying mood during Q3, but he also held steady with an array of blue chips that are at the center of his investing strategy.

We outlined where Buffett was putting his money to work in yesterday’s article, but the Oracle of Omaha also retained huge stakes many of his long-time favorite stocks that reside at the top of the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B) portfolio. He was also trimming stakes in a handful of names.

The top stock in Buffett’s holdings from the start of Q3 is beverage giant Coca-Cola (KO). Also among Buffett’s top holdings are several of America’s best-known brands, including Kraft Foods (KFT), American Express (AXP), Costco (COST), and Nike (NKE), and General Electric (GE). For years, Buffett has looked to steady, well-known brands like these as places to stash his cash.

He also, of course, also maintains significant exposure to Goldman Sachs (GS) (not listed among Berkshire’s publicly traded holdings) via the special investment he made in the firm late last year.

Elsewhere, Buffett was trimming stakes in credit rating firm Moody’s (MCO), health insurer Wellpoint (WLP), power wholesaler NRG Energy (NRG), SunTrust Banks (STI), and ConocoPhillips (COP), an investment that he said was ill-timed in his annual letter earlier this year. And Buffett exited stakes in hydraulics manufacturer Eaton (ETN) and vehicle control systems maker Wabco Holdings (WBC).

Looking at tickerspy.com’s graph charting the performance of Berkshire’s end-of-Q3 holdings so far during Q4, Buffett’s holdings have kept pace with the broader market during the recent rally. If you want to see how your performance stacks up to Warren Buffett’s, visit tickerspy.com to see the Oracle of Omaha’s top holdings and a chart of their combined performance.

Pro portfolio performance is based on institutions’ top-15 holdings as disclosed in quarter-end filings with the SEC. Pro performance does not take into account additional holdings beyond the top 15 nor does it include positions that are not required to be disclosed by the SEC. As such, Pro portfolio performance should be considered an approximation and not a precise record of how an institution has performed over time.

Tags: AXP, BRK-A, BRK-B, COP, COST, ETN, GE, GS, KFT, KO, MCO, NKE, NRG, STI, WBC, WLP