A pack of more than 10 guru investors disclosed to the public a significant portion of their portfolios are dedicated to the same group of high-flying stocks, filings showed.
Each of the stocks represent a weighting of at least 2.5% equity portfolio space. GuruFocus’ All-in-One-Screener identified the holdings as part of its robust search engine, which includes a wide assortment of characteristics belonging to more than 2,500 stocks. The companies that drew gurus’ biggest bets were technology giant Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial), Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B, Financial), the U.S.’s largest global bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM, Financial), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financial) and for-profit managed health care company UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH, Financial).
Gurus who reported significant positions in these stocks were legendary investors like Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Buffett, Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) and Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio).
Apple
With a $1 trillion market cap, Apple is among the most popular stocks in gurus’ portfolios. GuruFocus’ industry overview page showed the company was the unrivaled leader in its industry with 68.2%. In second place, at just 2.6%, is HP Inc. (HPQ, Financial).
Apple reported operating margins of 26.6% and a Piotroksi F-Score of 7, which emphasizes very healthy business operations. GuruFocus’ business predictability was ranked 2.5-stars out of five. These stocks have climbed, on average, 7% a year over the last decade. Apple reported 28.50% revenue growth over the last 10 years, while its earnings over the same period were 34.6%.
The iPhone maker reported a dividend yield of 1.25%. The yield is lower than 59% of companies in the Global Consumer Electronics Industry.
Analysts forecast earnings of $13.91 per share on revenue of $308 billion in 2021, up from earnings of $11.79 per share on revenue of $263 billion in 2018.
Apple traded at $209.34 per share on Thursday. Apple reported a price-earnings ratio of 18.96 and a price-sales ratio of 4.18. It was priced above historical value, according to GuruFocus’ median price-sales chart.
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway has a market cap of $517 billion; its shares were traded around $209.26 with a price-earnings ratio of 12.57 and a price-sales ratio of 2.19. The company had an annual average earnings growth rate of 10.70% over the last 10 years. GuruFocus gave Berkshire Hathaway a 4-star business predictability rank.
JPMorgan ChaseÂ
JPMorgan Chase has a market cap of $393.66 billion; its shares were traded around $117 with a price-book ratio of 1.71 and a price-sales ratio of 3.90. The bank had an annual average revenue growth rate of 2.4% over the past decade. GuruFocus rated JPMorgan's business predictability 1 star. GuruFocus’ industry overview pages showed that JPMorgan was the largest global bank in terms of market cap. It holds 18% of the industry, while Bank of America (BAC) holds 14.6%.
Microsoft
Technology giant Microsoft has a market cap of $843.5 billion; its shares were traded around $110 with a price-earnings ratio of 52 and a price-sales ratio of 7.75. The company had an annual average earnings growth rate of 7.5% over the last 10 years. GuruFocus rated Microsoft's business predictability 4.5 stars. GuruFocus' industry overview chart indicated that it was the leader in the industry in terms of market cap. Microsoft holds 30% of the industry, followed by Oracle Corp. (ORCL, Financial) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth has a market cap of $252.7 billion; its shares were traded around $262.55 with a price-earnings ratio of 21.83 and price-sales ratio of 1.21. The company had an annual average earnings growth rate of 12.4% over the past decade. GuruFocus rated UnitedHealth's business predictability a perfect 5 stars. UnitedHealth is the market leader in terms of market cap, according to GuruFocus industry overview pages. UnitedHealth holds 39% of the industry, followed by CVS Health Corp. (CVS, Financial) and Anthem Inc. (ANTM, Financial).
