3 Warren Buffett Approved ETFs to Buy Today

Quick Read

  • Berkshire Hathaway returned 20% annually since 1965 under Buffett.
  • VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF returned 419% since 2012 versus 398% for the S&P 500.
  • SPLG charges 0.02% annually and is now the cheapest S&P 500 ETF available.
  • If you’re focused on picking the right stocks and ETFs you may be missing the bigger picture: retirement income. That is exactly what The Definitive Guide to Retirement Income was created to solve, and it’s free today. Read more here
By Joel South Updated Published
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3 Warren Buffett Approved ETFs to Buy Today

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Warren Buffett is one of the greatest and most respected investors of all time. Most investors would like to emulate Buffett’s investing style in their portfolios, which is not easy, but we can certainly learn from his strategies.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)  has increased in value by more than 5,600,000% since Buffett took control of the company in 1965, which is an unbelievable 20% annually and double the S&9 500 over that time.

The legendary investor favors companies with “economic moats,” which are like “economic castles protected by unbreachable moats.” In simple terms, a moat is a unique competitive advantage that enables a company to outperform others in the same industry over time.

VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF

The VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) invests in attractively priced companies with sustainable competitive advantages. The ETF aims to track the performance of wide moat companies in the United States. The fund uses Morningstar equity analysts to select companies with long-term competitive advantages relative to their fair market value.

Since its inception in 2012, MOAT is up 419% compared to the S&P 500’s 398% gains.

 

Here are the current top 15 holdings in the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF:

Ticker Holdings Name Shares % of Net Assets Market Value 
AMAT US Applied Materials Inc 1,813,160 $489,752,647.60 3.72%
EL US Estee Lauder Cos Inc/The 3,852,555 $406,675,705.80 3.09%
HII US Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc 1,212,204 $396,051,290.88 3.01%
TMO US Thermo Fishe Scientific Inc 676,064 $391,373,449.60 2.97%
MRK US Merck & Co Inc 3,682,651 $364,619,275.51 2.77%
DHR US Danaher Corp 1,513,233 $351,629,952.21 2.67%
A US Agilent Technologies Inc 2,456,566 $350,969,584.42 2.67%
TER US Teradyne Inc 1,689,283 $344,563,053.51 2.62%
USB US Us Bancorp 6,424,283 $344,213,083.14 2.62%
WST US West Pharmaceutical Services Inc 1,253,465 $341,619,351.10 2.60%
GEHC US Ge Healthcare Technologies Inc 3,941,321 $339,150,672.05 2.58%
AMGN US Amgen Inc 1,058,807 $336,044,165.66 2.55%
UPS US United Parcel Service Inc 3,308,773 $332,465,511.04 2.53%
BMY US Bristol-Myers Squibb Co 6,299,910 $322,555,392.00 2.45%
NXPI US Nxp Semiconductors Nv 1,370,887 $317,812,733.21 2.41%

SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF (QUS)

In the past, Buffett invested in undervalued companies with great potential, which he called “cigar butts.” However, his thinking later evolved to “it’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

The SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF aims to invest in high-quality firms with durable balance sheets and stable cash flows, trading at reasonable valuations.

The SPDR StrategicFactors ETF has been on the heals of of the S&P 500 since inception in 2015 but the broad market index outperformed the ETF.

As of the time of this writing, these are the top 15 stocks in the QUS ETF.

Ticker Holdings Name Shares Weight
MICROSOFT CORP MSFT 97414.000 3.16%
APPLE INC AAPL 168385.000 2.76%
NVIDIA CORP NVDA 201180.000 2.66%
META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A META 55549.000 2.38%
VISA INC CLASS A SHARES V 91808.000 2.28%
ELI LILLY + CO LLY 30073.000 2.10%
JOHNSON + JOHNSON JNJ 133933.000 1.87%
MASTERCARD INC   A MA 45955.000 1.68%
ALPHABET INC CL A GOOGL 76561.000 1.62%
WALMART INC WMT 201716.000 1.34%
ALPHABET INC CL C GOOG 71164.000 1.32%
CISCO SYSTEMS INC CSCO 250792.000 1.23%
EXXON MOBIL CORP XOM 164003.000 1.16%
MERCK + CO. INC. MRK 193182.000 1.14%
PROCTER + GAMBLE CO/THE PG 132050.000 1.11%

SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPLG)

Buffett has long recommended that most investors should stick with low-cost index funds. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO charge just 0.03% each, but SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF SPLG‘s new fee of 0.02% makes it the cheapest in the space.

The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF offers broad exposure and aims to replicate the S&P 500 total returns and contains exposure to 80% of the U.S. stock market.

The total returns for all three ETFs mentioned track the S&P 500 very closely, and with a slightly less expense ratio of SPLG, the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF is our selected ETF for broad market exposure.

Currently, here are the top 15 stocks in SPLG:

Ticker Holdings Name Shares % of Net Assets
NVIDIA CORP NVDA 41643816.000 7.485872
APPLE INC AAPL 25328260.000 6.996459
MICROSOFT CORP MSFT 12686275.000 6.093755
AMAZON.COM INC AMZN 16563911.000 3.789661
BROADCOM INC AVGO 8027617.000 3.241079
ALPHABET INC CL A GOOGL 9927984.000 3.081734
ALPHABET INC CL C GOOG 7970044.000 2.484028
META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A META 3701796.000 2.400568
TESLA INC TSLA 4789336.000 2.126460
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC CL B BRK.B 3129701.000 1.541823
JPMORGAN CHASE + CO JPM 4693126.000 1.479868
ELI LILLY + CO LLY 1356975.000 1.360842
VISA INC CLASS A SHARES V 2899317.000 0.995608
EXXON MOBIL CORP XOM 7276447.000 0.864199
WALMART INC WMT 7491532.000 0.858074
JOHNSON + JOHNSON JNJ 4110616.000 0.857686

 

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