Top Ten Holdings of Five Prominent Money Managers

Quarterly 13F filings reveal the exact positions of the most closely watched portfolios. The ten largest line items in each report attract particular attention because they absorb the greatest share of research hours, internal debate along with capital.

Investor dollars serve as the only scoreboard that matters. The five vehicles below manage assets measured in hundreds of billions. Each portfolio belongs either to a publicly traded holding company or to a mutual fund that accepts new money daily. Positions are expressed as ordinary common stock unless a different security type is specified.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. files a consolidated 13F for the combined portfolios of Warren Buffett, Todd Combs in addition to Ted Weschler. The September 2023 filing lists the following ten issuers as the largest dollar commitments.

Berkshire Hathaway Top Ten Holdings

Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Bank of America Corp. (BAC)
American Express Co. (AXP)
Coca-Cola Co. (KO)
Chevron Corp. (CVX)
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC)
Moody's Corp. (MCO)
DaVita Inc. (DVA)
HP Inc. (HPQ)

The list contains the global leader in smartphone revenue, two dominant payment networks, the largest domestic beverage trademark, a super major oil producer, a packaged food conglomerate, a credit rating duopolist, a dialysis clinic chain, and a personal computer manufacturer. The aggregate position size exceeds one hundred and seventy-five billion dollars.

Bruce Berkowitz has controlled the Fairholme Fund since its 1997 inception. The fund pursues deep value situations that exhibit large discounts to private market appraisals. The December 2023 report lists the following ten positions as the largest exposures.

Fairholme Fund Top Ten Holdings

St. Joe Co. (JOE)
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD)
United States Treasury Bill, 5.264 %, 14 February 2024
United States Treasury Bill, 5.248 %, 07 February 2024
United States Treasury Bill, 5.277 %, 21 February 2024
Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (FGTXX)
United States Treasury Bill, 5.301 %, 28 February 2024
Imperial Metals Corp. Class A (III)
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FMCC)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B (BRK.B)

St. Joe owns roughly two hundred thousand acres of developable land in the Florida Panhandle. Berkowitz chairs its board. The four Treasury bills mature within thirty days and serve as cash equivalents. Imperial Metals operates copper and gold mines in British Columbia. Freddie Mac preferred stock trades over the counter at a discount to liquidation preference.

The Growth Fund of America, sub advised by Capital Research & Management Company, pursues above average capital appreciation. The fund's charter permits up to twenty percent of assets outside the United States. The December 2023 portfolio summary lists the following ten issuers as the largest weightings.

Growth Fund of America Top Ten Holdings

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Meta Platforms Inc. Class A (META)
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG)
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO)
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH)
Tesla Inc. (TSLA)
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY)
Netflix Inc. (NFLX)
Mastercard Inc. Class A (MA)

The aggregate weight of the ten names equals roughly twenty seven percent of fund assets. Alphabet, Amazon, Broadcom, Tesla next to Netflix classify as information technology or communication services issuers. UnitedHealth dominates domestic managed care enrollment. Eli Lilly markets the diabetes compound Mounjaro. Mastercard trails only Visa in global card network volume.

William Danoff has directed the Fidelity Contrafund since 1990. The fund seeks large capitalization companies whose intrinsic worth the market has not yet recognized. The October 2023 report lists the following ten positions as the largest dollar allocations.

Fidelity Contrafund Top Ten Holdings

Meta Platforms Inc. Class A (META)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class A (BRK.A)
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH)
NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA)
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY)
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL)
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG)

Meta appears twice across the five portfolios. NVIDIA supplies graphics processing units for artificial intelligence workloads. The two Alphabet share classes combined represent the fund's largest single issuer exposure at roughly eight percent of assets.

Dodge & Cox traces its roots to 1930. The Stock Fund follows a value discipline with a three- to five year horizon. Portfolio managers Charles Pohl, Diana Strandberg, David H. typically hold positions for more than a decade. The September 2023 report lists the following ten issuers as the largest commitments.

Dodge & Cox Stock Fund Top Ten Holdings

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG)
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC)
Sanofi ADR (SNY)
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW)
The Cigna Group (CI)
Fiserv Inc. (FISV)
FedEx Corp. (FDX)
MetLife Inc. (MET)
Charter Communications Inc. Class A (CHTR)

Occidental owns prolific acreage in the Permian Basin and the DJ Basin. Wells Fargo retains the largest branch network in the United States. Sanofi markets the insulin Lantus. Cigna provides pharmacy benefit management services. Fiserv supplies core banking software. FedEx operates the largest cargo airline. MetLife underwrites group life policies. Charter delivers broadband to thirty two million homes.

None of the five portfolios concentrates more than four percent of assets in any single issuer. The practice limits the damage that any one corporate event can inflict on total returns. Individual investors replicate the discipline by purchasing broad based index funds or by holding at least thirty stocks across unrelated industries.

Every issuer named above sells products or services that households encounter daily. Familiarity does not preclude profit. Rigorous analysis of financial statements, competitive position along with management quality determines whether a security offers an acceptable margin of safety at the quoted price.