Chicago, IL – May 14, 2025 – Zacks Value Investor is a podcast hosted weekly by Zacks Stock Strategist Tracey Ryniec. Every week, Tracey will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. To listen to the podcast, click here: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2468772/screening-for-buffett-stocks
Screening for Buffett Stocks
Welcome to Episode #404 of the Value Investor Podcast.
(0:30) - Using Warren Buffett To Find Strong Value Investments
(4:30) - Top Stocks To Keep On Your Radar Right Now
(25:40) - Episode Roundup: DFH, KO, AMZN
Podcast@Zacks.com
Every week, Tracey Ryniec, the editor of Zacks Value Investor portfolio, shares some of her top value investing tips and stock picks.
Tracey has done dozens of Value Investor Podcast episodes over the last 8 years talking about Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. She has covered the annual meetings, the trades made during the COVID pandemic, the death of Charlie Munger, Buffett’s stock trades, including his sale of IBM and purchase of Apple.
And now, she is covering the end of the Buffett era.
At the 2025 annual meeting in May 2025 in Omaha, Buffett announced he would step down as CEO at the end of the year. He will remain as Chairman of the Board.
But he’s currently 94 years old and will be 95 in August. Buffett had been signaling his twilight for over a year.
Screening for Buffett Stocks
Zacks has excellent value stock screens on its premium screening tools on Zacks.com.
But it also has a Warren Buffett stock screening tool on its more advanced Zacks Research Wizard product. This screen looks for stocks that Buffett would buy, using debt/equity ratio and return on equity (ROE), among other criteria. It’s under the “Guru” tab on Research Wizard.
Tracey ran this screen and it only produced one stock, which is included below.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Current Holdings
Why not look at two of Berkshire Hathaway’s other big-name stocks? Coca-Cola and Amazon.
One represents the Old Economy and was still featured prominently with cans of Coke directly in front of Buffett during the question-and-answer session of the annual meeting.
The other is the New Economy with online shopping and AWS cloud computing. Yes, Berkshire owns Amazon.
Are these value stocks?
3 Buffett Stocks for Your Watch List in 2025
1. Dream Finders Homes, Inc. DFH
Dream Finders Homes was the one stock that came through on the Buffett guru screen on Research Wizard. It is a national homebuilder headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Dream Finders Homes builds homes in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee.
In the first quarter, gross margins were up 140 basis points to 19.2%. Net new orders were up 18% to 2,032 from 1,724. Dream Finders Homes reiterated full year guidance of 9,250 home closures.
Shares of the home builders like Dream Finders Homes have struggled in 2025. Dream Finders Homes is up just 1.8% year-to-date. It’s a true value though. It has a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 6.9. A P/E under 10 is considered “dirt cheap.”
Dream Finders Homes also has a price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 1.6. It has a return on equity (ROE) of 29.4%. Value investors often look for double digit growth in ROE.
Should value investors be looking at homebuilders like Dream Finders Homes?
2. The Coca-Cola Co. KO
Coca-Cola is one of Warren Buffett’s long-time holdings. He loves the product and keeps the cans in front of him on the table at the annual meeting. And, yes, he drinks it.
Shares of Coca-Cola have outperformed in 2025, gaining 11.7% year-to-date. Over the last 5 years, it’s up 55%. That is underperforming the S&P 500, however, which is up 97% in that same time.
Coca-Cola isn’t cheap. It trades with a forward PE of 24. Coca-Cola also has a ROE of 45.
Is Coca-Cola still a value stock?
3. Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN
Many people don’t realize that Berkshire Hathaway owns shares of Amazon. It’s a small position, however. Berkshire originally bought it in the first quarter of 2019. It has sold some shares but has not added further to its position.
Shares of Amazon are down 4.9% year-to-date. However, over the last 5 years, it’s up 71%. That’s still underperforming the S&P 500 which is up 97% over those 5 years.
Amazon has gotten cheaper since 2019 on a P/E basis. It now trades with a forward P/E of 29.3, which is near a historic low for the company.
Is Amazon a value stock in 2025?
What Else Should You Know About Value Investing After Buffett?
Tune into this week’s podcast to find out.
[In full disclosure, Tracey owns shares of AMZN in her personal portfolio.]
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Tracey Ryniec is the Value Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. She is also the Editor of the Insider Trader and Value Investor services. You can follow her on twitter at @TraceyRyniec and she also hosts the Zacks Market Edge Podcast on iTunes.
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