If you put $1,000 in Warren Buffett’s largest holding at the start of 2025, here’s your return now

Warren Buffett, the chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has turned notably bearish as of late.

Berkshire has been a net seller of stocks, and by a significant margin, for quarters on end. Buffett is currently sitting on a record-breaking cash position — most likely biding his time for an opportunity to deploy capital in a more efficient manner after a significant correction. 

The billionaire investor’s latest shareholder letter also included a stern warning regarding the folly of fiscal policy as it is practiced in the U.S. today.

Back on February 14, Berkshire’s latest 13-F filing was released. The document revealed the company’s holdings as of December 31. Since then, Warren Buffett has made several significant moves — cutting his stake in dialysis company DaVita with a $116 million sale, and doubling down on energy titan Occidental Petroleum.

One thing — or rather, the absence of one thing, however, stands out the most. Buffett has seemingly stopped cutting his stake in his largest holding, Apple. Let’s take a look at how a $1,000 investment in the consumer electronics titan made at the start of the year would have fared up to the time of publication.

Warren Buffett’s largest stock holding has been in the red since the start of the year

Apple accounts for roughly 28% of Berkshire’s stock portfolio. Per the latest 13-F filing, the company holds 300,000,000 Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares.

At the end of last year, the tech giant’s stock closed at a price of $250.42 per share. By press time on March 4, the price of AAPL stock had receded to $237.93, marking a 4.99% loss.

Accordingly, a $1,000 investment in Apple shares made at the start of 2025 would now be worth $950.10 — in other words, the investment would have incurred a $49.90 loss.

Despite a double beat in the company’s Q1 2025 report, the company’s late entry into the artificial intelligence (AI) space, lagging sales in China, and a weak upgrade cycle in the United States severely diminished investor confidence.

Wall Street also issued mixed outlooks for the stock following President Trump’s implementation of tariffs on China. Most recently, UBS analyst David Vogt reiterated a ‘Neutral’ rating on Apple stock, with a $236 price target, citing slow sales yet promising results in developing markets as the driving factors behind his forecast.

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