Key Points
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Durable profit gains drove this stock to crush the overall market in the past decade.
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The valuation multiple has expanded by 246% since June 2016, leaving prospective investors with no margin of safety.
- 10 stocks we like better than Apple ›
Besides its wholly owned operating businesses, Berkshire Hathaway is known for its huge $327 billion public equities portfolio. The conglomerate owns many individual stocks, but one stands out for its massive financial impact in recent times.
If you had invested $10,000 in this top Warren Buffett stock 10 years ago, here’s how much you’d have today.
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Even after sizable share sales, Berkshire has a 1.6% stake in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) valued at $71 billion right now. In the past 10 years, this “Magnificent Seven” stock has generated a total return of 1,300% (as of June 4), turning $10,000 into $139,630 today.
Having purchased its first Apple shares in the first quarter of 2016, Berkshire has captured a phenomenal gain on this investment. Buffett believes Apple is a wonderful company, which isn’t a surprising conclusion given its history of product and service innovation, pricing power, and tremendous profits.
Exactly a decade ago, Apple looked like a value stock, trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.9. That multiple has expanded by 246% since then to 37.7, driven by robust financial performance that led to a major improvement in market sentiment.
Prospective investors have no margin of safety. The valuation implies lofty expectations for a company that wont reportthe same growth it did in the past.
Should you buy stock in Apple right now?
Before you buy stock in Apple, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Apple wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $443,191!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,258,838!*
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*Stock Advisor returns as of June 7, 2026.
Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
