74% of Warren Buffett's Portfolio Is in 5 Stocks -- but Only This 1 Is Beating the Market

Warren Buffett's top stocks often make for good long-term investments. But this year, only one of the top five holdings in Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio is beating the markets. And while it's only a handful of stocks that are carrying the S 500's strong 18% gains this year, it has still been a largely lackluster year for most of these Buffett stocks. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) account for a combined 74% of Berkshire's stock portfolio. Here's how these stocks have performed this year, in order from worst to best:

Oil and gas producer Chevron hasn't been doing poorly, but with oil prices lower, investors have been increasingly bearish on the stock. Chevron released its latest earnings numbers on July 28 and while it posted a profit of more than $6 billion, that's still well shy of the incredible $11.6 billion profit it reported in the same period last year.

The company blamed the worsening results on lower margins and lower upstream realizations during the period. Oil prices remain strong this year and that could remain the case for the foreseeable future as both Russia and Saudi Arabia are looking to extend production cuts in order to help keep prices high. Over the years, the stock's performance has closely followed the path of West Texas Intermediate, a key oil benchmark in the industry:

Continue reading

Source Fool.com