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Warren Buffett has taken a highly conservative approach to the stock market in recent years. However, he has bought Chevron (NYSE:CVX), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and Pool Corp (NASDAQ:POOL) in the most recent quarter.
He has been selling stocks for three straight years in a row, or 12 consecutive quarters. This does not mean that he’s selling all his holdings. Rather, this means Buffett is significantly trimming some positions and is keeping his buys constricted.
He revealed during the annual conference and in his shareholder letters that he does not see many opportunities in this market. Buffett likes quality stocks with quality underlying businesses, and these are exactly the ones that Wall Street has been bidding up to nosebleed valuations.
Since Buffett also dislikes overpaying for a stock (as any investor would), he’s been uninterested in buying.
But if you like following Buffett’s picks, you’re still in luck. He still has been buying some stocks, though the assortment is limited.
Besides, Buffett is going into retirement and passing the helm to Greg Abel by the end of 2025, who’s poised to become the next CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. These are among the last few fresh Buffett picks you can look into.
Chevron (CVX)
It should come as no surprise that Warren Buffett likes oil companies. He had previously piled into Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), which now owns 26.91% of. Chevron is getting even more love from Buffett, as his CVX holdings are worth ~$17.5 billion, compared to $11.13 billion in OXY holdings.
Buffett sees Occidental as a forever holding, and Chevron may be joining that pack. Buffett made a timely buy in Q4 2020, trimming some of his holdings when the stock traded higher in mid-2021, and then timed the dip in Q3 2021. He then kept buying OXY stock through mid-2022.
He trimmed his OXY holdings four quarters consecutively as it traded at over double the price of his initial entry point. His Q2 2025 buy was also very well-timed, as the stock climbed right after.
What may have sealed the deal for Buffett is that CVX yields 4.46% and has been doing aggressive buybacks on top of that. The 3-year average share buyback ratio stands at 2.6% annually. This is better than almost 92% of companies in the oil and gas industry.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH)
UnitedHealth went through a cataclysmic sequence of fiascos in early 2025. UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was tragically assassinated. Shortly after, the whole group’s financials started tanking, and the group’s CEO departed. The company axed its guidance, and predictably, many shareholders jumped ship.
Most investors would be petrified to buy the dip, but Buffett sees this as an opportunity to get in on America’s largest health insurance company at a big discount.
He bought 5.049 million shares of UNH stock in Q2 2025. It is now worth $1.57 billion.
UnitedHealth Group has been showing signs of stabilizing. The stock bottomed out near $250 and trades at $339 as of this writing. Guidance has been reinstated, and revenue grew 12% year-over-year in Q3 2025. Conversely, operating earnings have halved from $8.7 billion in Q3 2024 to $4.3 billion in Q3 2025. Buffett places special emphasis on operating earnings, but he likely believes the insurance company can claw its way back once the storm passes.
UNH stock carries a 2.61% dividend yield as an added benefit to those waiting for a turnaround.
Pool Corp (POOL)
Pool Corp is the world’s largest wholesale seller of swimming pool products. Buffett increased his holdings here by 136.26% and owns 9.2% of the company.
Unfortunately, things haven’t gone as swimmingly (pun intended) for him. Buffett made four back-to-back buys in Q3 2024, Q4 2024, Q1 2025, and most recently in Q2 2025. POOL stock was trading in the $300 to $340 range when Berkshire Hathaway bought the stock. POOL stock trades near $250 as of this writing. The market value of his holdings now is a little over $1 billion.
Buffett certainly has the wherewithal to handle these losses and play the long game, but the underperformance is notable. Pool Corp has missed analyst revenue estimates for three consecutive quarters, with Q3 2025 showing only a 1% increase in net sales to $1.45 billion.
The primary issue plaguing Pool Corp is the struggling housing market combined with elevated interest rates. New pool construction and renovation sales are projected to be flat to down for 2025, as high borrowing costs and affordability challenges discourage homeowners from building pools. Having said that, interest rates are starting to come down, so buying the dip is not a bad idea.
Most economists believe the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again in December. This would be the third interest rate cut in 2025.
POOL stock yields you exactly 2% in dividends.