12 Best Warren Buffett Stock Picks For Beginners

10. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81

Berkshire Hathaway’s Stake Value: $17,179,549,745

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), an American oil and gas giant, ranks 10th on our list of the best Warren Buffett stock picks for beginners. Buffett picked up CVX in the third quarter of 2020, initially buying over 44 million shares. Fast forward to Q4 2024, and the billionaire investor holds a whopping 118.6 million units of the energy stock.

On April 21, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) commenced production at Ballymore in the deepwater Gulf of America, tying three wells back to its existing Blind Faith platform instead of building new, which is a cost-saving play. Ballymore could produce 75,000 barrels a day and is part of Chevron’s bigger plan to hit 300,000 barrels a day from the Gulf by 2026. Ballymore holds an estimated 150 million barrels of recoverable resources and marks Chevron’s first development in the Gulf’s Norphlet trend. Chevron owns 60% of the project, while TotalEnergies holds 40%.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) posted $3.2 billion in earnings for the fourth quarter of 2024, up from $2.3 billion a year ago, boosted by currency gains yet weighed down by severance and impairment costs. Adjusted earnings fell to $3.6 billion from $6.5 billion, mainly because of weaker margins and lower oil prices. Still, Chevron hit record oil production both globally and in the US, driven by strong growth in the Permian Basin. The company ended the year with about 9.8 billion barrels in reserves. Chevron also returned a record $27 billion to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks and announced a 5% dividend increase heading into 2025.

According to Insider Monkey’s fourth quarter database, 81 hedge funds reported owning stakes in Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX). Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management was a prominent stakeholder of the company, with nearly 20 million shares valued at $2.8 billion.