3 Top Buffett Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Haul

Warren Buffett's timeless picks—three stocks built to weather any market storm.

Why These Giants Still Dominate

Forget flashy trends—these established players deliver consistent returns while tech startups burn cash chasing the next big thing. They're the antithesis of speculative crypto hype.

Long-Term Value Over Short-Term Noise

Buffett's strategy ignores quarterly earnings drama, focusing instead on durable competitive advantages—something most finfluencers wouldn't understand if it hit them in their NFT portfolio.

The Boring Brilliance of Steady Compounders

While others chase 100x moonshots, these stocks grind higher year after year—proving that slow and steady still wins the race, even if it doesn't generate clickbait headlines.

Because in a world of meme stocks and algorithmic trading, sometimes the smartest move is buying what actually works—not what trends on social media.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Amazon

Buffett has famously acknowledged his regret that Berkshire didn't invest in Amazon sooner. But Berkshire rectified that error in 2019 by taking a $900 million stake in the e-commerce giant. Today, its position is worth close to $2.3 billion.

Amazon, of course, has changed a lot over the years. It got its start as an online bookseller and evolved into an e-commerce titan that ships and sells nearly all types of goods all over the world. Amazon had $391.4 billion in retail sales in 2024, second only to, and its rise forced brick-and-mortar companies around the world to create their own e-commerce divisions just to compete.

However, the secret sauce to Amazon stock is its powerful cloud computing division. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the biggest cloud computing service on the planet, with a 30% share of the global market (almost as much as No. 2and No. 3combined). AWS generated $10.16 billion in profits in the second quarter -- more than all of the profits brought in by the much-larger e-commerce division. In fact, AWS accounted for 55% of Amazon's net income despite bringing in just 18% of the company's revenue.

As more companies turn to cloud computing for their IT infrastructure, AWS will continue to drive Amazon's profits.

Occidental Petroleum

While it's true that Buffett generally favors companies that have market superiority, Occidental is an outlier. The integrated oil and natural gas company is much smaller than rivalsand, but Berkshire Hathaway has over time built up a 26.9% stake in Occidental.

That's in part because it ticks another box on Buffett's checklist -- he loves how its management team runs it. Buffett has said he was sold on Occidental after reading the company's earnings call transcript in 2022. "I read every word, and said this is exactly what I would be doing," he said.

By that point, Buffett already had a vested interest in Occidental: Berkshire bought $10 billion worth of its preferred stock to help it finance its 2019 purchase of Anadarko Petroleum. That was a classic Berkshire MOVE because the terms of the preferred stock deal required Occidental to pay Berkshire Hathaway an 8% dividend -- and Buffett loves dividends.

But Berkshire's additional purchases since 2022 show that Buffett still believes in Occidental's future. That should signal to retail investors that it's an ideal buy-and-hold energy stock.

Bank of America

If Occidental is Buffett's favorite energy stock, then it's SAFE to say that Bank of America is his favorite bank stock. Berkshire Hathaway owns 605 million shares of Bank of America stock -- a stake worth more than $30 billion. That's roughly 10% of Berkshire's entire stock portfolio.

The Charlotte-based financial giant is the second-largest bank in the country by assets, with 69 million consumer and small-business clients, 3,700 locations, 15,000 ATMs, and a digital presence that serves roughly 59 million people.

Its diverse revenue streams come from consumer banking, corporate lending, wealth management, mortgages, and auto loans. Its revenue ROSE 4% year over year in the second quarter to $26.5 billion. Net income of $7.1 billion was up from $6.9 billion a year ago.

Bank of America also pays a dividend that yields 2.2% at the current share price, and those shares are fairly valued at a price-to-earnings ratio of just 14.8. Its value, dividend, and consistent earnings make it a classic Buffett stock to buy and hold.