Bill Gates’ Stock Portfolio: Top 5 Picks

Below are the top 5 stocks in Bill Gates’ stock portfolio. For a comprehensive list see Bill Gates’ Stock Portfolio: Top 15 Picks.

5. Walmart Inc. (WMT)             

The retail stores chain Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is the fifth-largest stock holding of Bill Gates’ stock portfolio. Walmart’s stake accounts for 7.35% of the overall portfolio. The trust first initiated a stake in Walmart in 2006. Walmart is considered a safe stock for defensive investors amid its dividend growth history.                           

Shares of Walmart jumped 170% in the last ten years. It has also raised dividends in the past 47 straight years. The company currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share. Walmart is among the 10 most profitable companies in the US and it is making significant investments into ecommerce right now to defend its turf against Amazon. We talked about this topic in a recent article.

4. Caterpillar Inc (CAT)

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is one of the most favorite stocks of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation stock portfolio. The trust currently holds 11 million shares of CAT valued at $1.67 billion, accounting for 7.61% of the overall portfolio. Trailing Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust was Fisher Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $893.9 million. Citadel Investment Group, Diamond Hill Capital, and PEAK6 Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust allocated the biggest weight to Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), around 7.61% of its 13F portfolio. Axel Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 7.02 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CAT.

Caterpillar has a long dividend growth history. It currently offers a dividend yield of 2.28%.

Despite pandemic related challenges, Caterpillar management seeks to expand its growth plans. “I’m proud of our global team’s performance as we continue to safely navigate the pandemic while remaining firmly committed to serving our customers,” said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. “Our third-quarter results largely aligned with our expectations, and we’re encouraged by positive signs in certain industries and geographies. We’re executing our strategy and are ready to respond quickly to changing market conditions.”

3. Canadian National Railway Company (CNI)

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is the long-running investment of Bill Gates’ stock portfolio. The trust first initiated a position in railway stock in 2002. Other prominent investors were getting more bullish on CNI. The number of long hedge fund bets improved by 2 in recent months. Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) was in 28 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of June. The all time high for this statistics is 29.

It is the third-largest stock holding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation stock portfolio, accounting for 8.26% of the overall portfolio. Arrowstreet Capital, Point72 Asset Management, and Millennium Management were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust allocated the biggest weight to Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI), around 8.5% of its 13F portfolio. Heronetta Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 6.0 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CNI. Shares of Canadian National Railway Company jumped 230% in the last ten years. In addition, the company has raised dividends in the last 22 successive years. It currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, yielding around 1.55%.

2. Waste Management, Inc. (WM)      

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) is the second-largest stock holding of Bill Gates’ portfolio. The trust first initiated a position in Waste Management in 2002. It is currently accounting for 9.55% of the overall portfolio valued at $2.1 billion. Shares of Waste Management jumped 220% in the last ten years and it has also raised dividends in the past 17 straight years.

Waste Management has generated 23% revenue growth in the latest quarter, with expectations that revenue momentum will accelerate in the upcoming quarters.

1. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B)

Warren Buffett’s investment holding firm Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) is the largest stock holding of Bill Gates portfolio. It accounts for 45% of the overall portfolio valued at $10 billion. Although Berkshire Hathaway does not offer dividends to investors, Bill Gates’ portfolio benefited from the robust share price gains. The shares of Buffett’s Berkshire grew 180% in the last ten years.

Nomadic Value Investors talked about Berkshire Hathaway in their Q2 investor letter:

“We added to Berkshire Hathaway. I won’t spend too much talking about this, but BRK is as attractively priced as it’s been in some time. The press’s and FinTwit’s fascination with “Warren’s lost it” is at a cyclical peak and is complete noise. However, the valid bear argument is that BRK is too big to compound at good rates going forward, and subsidiary company performance will be weak for the next couple of years with its high exposure to air traffic (Precision Cast Parts and previously held airline stocks) and holdings in “old economy” manufacturing and retail businesses. Also, short-term there’s an unknown consequence of insurance claim payouts and/or refunds13 . We wouldn’t completely disagree with these judgments, and the optics are certainly bad when BRK doesn’t buy back shares in a quarter with a substantial sell-down. However, with a long-term lens and given the management style of BRK (conservative talk and overperform), we will likely be quite satisfied in the future – whatever that looks like. Meanwhile, we’ve gotten into a range where 30%-50% of BRK is free. Are the actual growth prospects for Berkshire this dire? Berkshire is our largest position.”

Please also see 15 Best Long-Term Stocks To Buy Now and 10 Best Large-Cap Stocks To Buy According to Ray Dalio