Warren Buffett's Top 10 Stock Holdings, and Why He Owns Them

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns common stock in dozens of companies, but the size of his positions varies tremendously. Some of his stock holdings are just a few million dollars in size -- tiny for a company with a market cap in the hundreds of billions.

However, others are massive and actually make up a significant portion of Berkshire's assets. In fact, Berkshire's 10 largest stock holdings have a market value of more than $97 billion as of this writing. And, many represent a large stake in the underlying companies -- for example, Berkshire owns more than 9% of Coca-Cola.

Now, before we go any further, keep in mind that the complete process Buffett uses to pick stocks is not public information, and is certainly too complex to discuss in a couple of bullet points on a slideshow. However, there are certain investment principles that anyone can use, and these stocks are great examples of many of them. In other words, by understanding why Warren Buffett likes these stocks so much, you can employ similar principles when choosing stocks for your own portfolio. With that in mind, here's a rundown of Buffett's top 10 and a couple of reasons why he likes each one.

The article Warren Buffett's Top 10 Stock Holdings, and Why He Owns Them originally appeared on Fool.com.

Matthew Frankel owns shares of American Express and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway and Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool has the following options: short March 2016 $52 puts on Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool recommends American Express, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.