For Warren Buffett, Apple is his new Cola-Cola as the investing icon reaps $100 billion in six years

cnbc.com:

Warren Buffett's recent success from his massive Apple bet is spurring comparisons with the legend's greatest investment of all time — Coca-Cola.

Berkshire Hathaway began buying Apple's stock in 2016 and amassed a 5% ownership of the iPhone maker by mid-2018 with a cost $36 billion. As the tech giant's share price skyrocketed, the value of Buffett's bet has ballooned to more than $160 billion, bringing his return well over $100 billion on paper in just six years.

The highly lucrative investment reminded some Buffett watchers of Coca-Cola, the Oracle of Omaha's oldest and longest stock position. The consumer juggernaut's stock has soared over 2,000% since Buffett started buying in 1988, and it's still Berkshire's fourth largest equity position with 400 million shares.

«Buffett is having his Coca Cola moment on Apple,» said Bill Smead, chief investment officer at Smead Capital Management and a Berkshire shareholder. «They both went way up the first five to seven years he's owned them.»

Investing in high-flyers like Apple seemingly defies Buffett's well-known value investing principles, but the out-of-character move turned out to be his best investment over the last decade. Apple's stake also played a crucial role in helping Berkshire weather the coronavirus pandemic as other pillars of its business, including insurance and energy, took a huge hit.

The 91-year-old investor has become such a big fan of Apple that he now considers the tech giant as one of the «four giants» driving his conglomerate of mostly old-economy businesses he's assembled over the last five decades.

Apple «has been a home run for Berkshire, no doubt,» said James Shanahan, Berkshire analyst at Edward Jones. «Buffett acquired most of the position at an