Within
Top 10 Stocks
, I like to keep tabs on where the richest people in the world are
putting their money.
After all, billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are
some of the smartest investors on the planet. And they have
advantages the rest of us don't: entire staffs of MBAs working for
them... Wall Street CEOs who give them sweetheart deals in order to
get their business... and friends at the highest levels of
government and society who can steer them toward the next big
thing.
These advantages have helped corporate titans like Buffett and
Gates deliver some of the biggest gains in stockmarket history.
For example, anyone with the good judgment to invest $10,000 in
Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:
BRK-B
)
in 1965 would be sitting on an astonishing $51.3 million at the end
of 2011.
So when a prominent billionaire like Bill Gates starts buying a
stock hand over fist, you need to stand up and pay attention. In
this case, Bill Gates -- via his investment vehicle Cascade
Investment -- owns 24.5 millionshares of one of the world's most
popular agriculture-related stocks. The total value of the stake
now sits at $1.8 billion. But that's not all. In summer of 2011,
Cascade Investment purchased 7.5 millionshares of this stock... an
investment worth $571 million, ranking it as Gates' biggest
purchase in recent memory.
I'll give you the name and ticker symbol of this stock in a
moment.
But first, you need to understand the broader implications of
what's going on right now. You see... Bill Gates' latest investment
is just a tiny part of a much bigger story. It's just one example
of what I believe could be the single most important trend in the
stockmarket today.
What's going on?
Simple -- in an effort to lock in big gains
and
protect their wealth from today's unprecedented stockmarket
volatility, the world's richest billionaires, politicians and
corporate titans are loading up on a select group of stocks that
have proven to be some of the safest and most reliable money-makers
on the planet. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Carlos Slim... maybe
even your own Congressman already own many of these stocks.
Around our research office in Austin, Texas, wecall them
"Forever" stocks. We've talked about them so much over the past few
months, the nickname is just easier. Everyone here knows exactly
what we're talking about.
Put simply, this is the set of stocks you can buy today and hold
for the rest of your life. When you own them, you no longer need to
worry about things likeinflation ordeflation ...bear markets or
recessions... "flash-crashes" or rising interest rates. And right
now, the world's richest billionaires are loading up on some of our
favorite "Forever" names.
Case-in-point: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway first
purchased 216,000shares of one of our favorite "Forever" stocks --
MasterCard (NYSE:
MA
)
-- in 2011. And according to SEC filings, he bought another
189,000shares of this same stock -- nearly doubling down on the
initial position.
None of this surprises us.
We've been pounding the table on "Forever" stocks like
MasterCard for months now.
My staff and I put everything you need to know about these
"Forever" stocks in our latest presentation entitled "
The 10 Best Stocks to Hold Forever
." It's the single most popular piece of research we've published
in our company's 11-year history, and it's already been viewed by
more than a quarter-million investors. If you haven't already
watched it, then I encourage you to do so right now.
In the meantime, let's get back to Bill Gates.
Recently, Gates made a series of purchases of
Deere & Co. (NYSE:
DE
)
. Deere is the world's largest farm equipment manufacturer, a
leader in the production of equipment and machinery for the
construction and forestry industries, and a top producer of lawn
and garden tractors for homeowners.
With gains of nearly 1,200% since 1990 and with a stable business
model that focuses on farming equipment that the world desperately
needs in order to feed the global population, Deere could easily
qualify as a "Forever" stock (but it didn't make my final cut).
After examining the stock's fundamentals, it's easy to see why
Gates would want toload up on the shares: it's a good value, it has
a firm balance sheet and the company has enoughliquid assets to pay
off its near-term obligations twice over. In addition, Deere &
Co. has raised itsdividend an average of 16% a year for the past
five years. At recent prices, it now yields about 2.5%.
On top of all this, thanks to its high-quality products and
strong customer service, Deere & Co. typically dominates the
markets in which it competes. And to further extend itsmarket
leadership, the company has aggressively expanded its business
overseas. In fact, Deere & Co. now derives 40% of its total
sales from outside the United States and Canada.
And because the company is more geographically diversified than
its competitors, it tends to enjoy greater profitability when
business is good and take smaller hits to thebottom line during
industry downturns.
But there are some risks to consider...
Deere & Co. has exposure to the ailing U.S. housing
market
through its construction equipment business. As such, its sales
could suffer if the housing market continues to worsen. Also,
further expansion into foreign markets could be difficult.
Action to Take -->
You may want to follow Bill Gates on this one. Because of its size,
financial strength and geographic diversity, Deere & Co. could
continue to deliver market-beating gains in the years ahead.
[
Note:
Deere & Co. is a solid investment, but as I said earlier, I've
identified
10 other "Forever" investments
with stronger business models, higherdividend yields and (arguably)
much greater long-term growth potential. To learn more about this
exclusive list of stocks,
visit this link
.]
-- Paul Tracy
Paul Tracy does not personally hold positions in any securities
mentioned in this article. StreetAuthority LLC owns shares of MA,
BRK-B in one or more if its "real money" portfolios.