3 Warren Buffett Stocks That Are Beating the Market This Year and Could Still Go Up

2024 was a pretty solid year for the markets as S&P500 is up about 18% so far, but it’s not hard to find stocks that are doing even better. A good place to look is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio that invests in many of the world’s best stocks. You’ll find plenty of high-quality, safe stocks to own for the long term. And some of them outperform the market solidly.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), T-Mobile USA (NASDAQ:TMUS)AND American Express (NYSE:AXP) are among the brightest holdings in Berkshire’s portfolio this year. These are the kinds of investments you can hold on to not just for years, but decades. Here’s how they’ve performed so far, and why they could still rise.

Amazon

The e-commerce and technology giant isn’t a big position in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio, accounting for just 0.6% of its total portfolio weight. But it’s one of the better-performing stocks, up 21% year to date.

The stock benefited from the hype around artificial intelligence (AI), as the company invested in chatbot maker Anthropic and plans to invest as much as $100 billion over the next decade to focus on data center infrastructure. Data centers will become increasingly important in the future as more companies move to the cloud and develop AI models.

In the e-commerce space, Amazon is also launching a new discount service to better compete with low-cost online retailers like Shein and Temu (which PDD Holdings has.) That could potentially boost the company’s growth rate, which was 10% in its most recent quarter, with sales topping $148 billion in the period ended June 30.

Despite all these positive investments and potential catalysts, Amazon shares still trade at a fairly modest 44 times earnings, which is unusual for a stock that investors typically pay a much higher premium for. It could only be a matter of time before the shares rise even higher.

T-Mobile USA

Up 28% this year, T-Mobile is another stock that has done well recently. The telecommunications company has posted some solid results this year. In the latest quarter, T-Mobile recorded its highest number of new postpaid customers in its history, at 777,000, and reached the milestone of 100 million cumulative postpaid customers.

Even more growth is expected to be on the horizon for the company as it plans to acquire a majority Mobile in the USA for $4.4 billion, which will expand its reach into rural areas. T-Mobile acquired Sprint in 2020 for a much larger $26 billion. T-Mobile’s steady pursuit of growth and customer acquisition success makes it one of the better telecom stocks to own over the long term.

T-Mobile’s stake in Berkshire’s portfolio is even smaller than Amazon’s, at just 0.3%. But its strong brand and position among industry leaders suggest it belongs in that sector. These are Buffett’s stocks that you can safely hold for years.

American Express

The best-performing stock on this list is American Express. Credit card stocks are up about 40% since the beginning of the year. Buffett is a fan of the big credit card companies, but Amex is unique in that it is the second-largest holding after Applewhich makes up 13% of Berkshire’s portfolio (Apple has 28%). Like the iPhone maker, Amex’s focus on a wealthier and less price-sensitive customer base has undoubtedly helped make it a good buy this year.

Net revenues, net of interest expenses, rose 10% for Amex this year, totaling $32.1 billion in the six months. More impressively, the company’s net income rose 37% to $5.5 billion. The results were strong enough to justify an increase in guidance; Amex now expects full-year earnings per share to be about $13.55, up from $12.90 previously forecast.

Amex Bank has performed well this year, and its large customer base could help the company continue to deliver impressive results even if the economy struggles, making it an ideal option for long-term investors.

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a board member of The Motley Fool. American Express is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. David Jagielski has no ownership interest in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares in and recommends Amazon, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool recommends T-Mobile US. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.