Warren Buffett owns four stocks that are part of the $1 trillion club. Here’s the best of the bunch.

Some clubs have many members. Others are more exclusive. However, few are as difficult to get into as the $1 trillion club. To be eligible, a company must have a 13-digit market capitalization.

Only six companies trading on US stock exchanges are currently members of this super-exclusive group. Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway was present briefly earlier this year, but not now. However, Buffett has stakes in four members of the $1 trillion club.

Buffett’s Most Notable Trillion-Dollar Stocks

Which trillion-dollar stocks are most closely linked to Buffett? His Apple (AAPL -0.33%). The iPhone maker’s market capitalization is nearly $3.4 trillion. Apple continues to keep pace with Nvidia as the world’s largest company by market capitalization.

These days, Buffett doesn’t seem as enamored with Apple. Berkshire recently reported that it sold another 100 million shares in the third quarter of 2024. However, Apple remains the conglomerate’s largest holding, making up 23.4% of Berkshire’s portfolio.

Amazon (AMZN 3.81%) This is another easily visible Buffett share in the $1 trillion club. Its market capitalization currently exceeds $2 trillion. Amazon is not a large holding for Berkshire, accounting for just 0.7% of its portfolio. However, we’re not talking about a change in Berkshire’s stake in Amazon: the 10 million shares it owned at the end of the second quarter of 2024 are worth almost $2 billion.

Buffett did not personally make the decision to buy Amazon. In a 2019 interview with CNBC, he revealed that “one of the people in the office who manages the money” (referring to either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler) initiated Berkshire’s position in the e-commerce and cloud services giant.

Two more in Buffett’s “secret portfolio”

If you look just at Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F regulatory filing, you might think that Apple and Amazon are the only members of the $1 trillion club in which Buffett has a stake. However, the legendary investor has a “secret portfolio” that includes two other stocks with market capitalizations of more than $1 trillion.

I’m talking about an investment portfolio managed by New England Asset Management (NEAM). This asset management services company was acquired by General Reinsurance Corporation in 1995. Berkshire Hathaway then acquired General Re in 1998. Although Buffett does not influence NEAM’s investment decisions, he owns all of the stocks in NEAM’s portfolio.

NEAM owns 10,540 shares Microsoft (MSFT 2.12%). The tech leader’s market capitalization of more than $3 trillion puts it in third place behind Apple and Nvidia.

Buffett has said in the past that he made a mistake by not investing in Google, which is now part of Alphabet (GOOG 4.04%) (GOOGLE 3.99%). However, NEAM corrected its mistake. The Berkshire subsidiary owns 7,560 Class A shares of Alphabet, which has a market capitalization of more than $2 trillion.

The best of them all

Which of Buffett’s four $1 trillion club stocks is the best of the bunch right now? I like them all, but one in particular stands out.

new from Apple generative AI Apple Intelligence-branded functionality could kick off a multi-year iPhone update supercycle. However, I wouldn’t call Apple the best yet. It remains to be seen whether the company can return to strong growth.

Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI has made it a key leader in the AI ​​race. However, I’m not sure whether Microsoft can generate enough growth next year to make it a more attractive option than the other three stocks on our list.

Alphabet is a strong contender. Google Search and YouTube continue to dominate their markets. Google Cloud is thriving. Waymo’s self-driving car division has a huge opportunity as the robotaxi market expands. My main concern about Alphabet is the antitrust lawsuits that hang over the company like a dark cloud.

So my choice remains the best of them all: Amazon. The company’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) division remains a leader in the fast-growing cloud services market. AWS should have tremendous growth prospects over the next decade and beyond. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla of the e-commerce market, but it still has plenty of room to grow. Like Alphabet, Amazon has another potential growth path in the robotaxi market: its Zoox business.

But what I like most about Amazon is its free cash flow. For the 12 months ended September 30, 2024, the company generated a staggering $47.7 billion in free cash flow, reflecting 123% year-over-year growth. If Amazon can continue to generate free cash flow at or above this level (and I think it will), Buffett’s stock could join Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft in the $3 trillion club in the not-too-distant future.

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, chief executive of Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 Microsoft calls and short January 2026 $405 Microsoft calls. The Motley Fool has disclosure policy.