Billionaire Warren Buffett Owns 6 Dow Jones Stocks. Here's My Top Buy for 2026.

Visa is highlighted as the top buy among Berkshire Hathaway’s major public holdings due to its capital-light, high-margin payments network and durable network effects that convert strong operating cash flow into free cash flow; in fiscal 2025 Visa reported $23.06 billion in operating cash flow, $1.48 billion in capex and $21.58 billion in free cash flow. The company returned $18.19 billion through share repurchases and $4.63 billion in dividends in FY2025—buybacks roughly four times dividends—supporting EPS growth via a shrinking share count; Visa trades at a trailing P/E of 32.3 versus a 10-year median of 34.3, and its current 0.8% dividend yield would translate to about 3.6% if repurchases were paid as dividends. The author expects low-double-digit earnings growth even in weaker consumer-spending environments and calls Visa a high-conviction 2026 buy; disclosure notes the author holds no position while Motley Fool owns stakes in several cited companies.

Analysis

The article positions Visa as a top 2026 buy among Berkshire Hathaway's major public holdings, citing its capital-light payments network, durable network effects and predictable growth runway. Visa converted $23.06 billion of operating cash flow into $21.58 billion of free cash flow in fiscal 2025 (ended Sept. 30, 2025) while spending only $1.48 billion on capex, underscoring high FCF conversion and operating efficiency.

Visa returned $18.19 billion via share repurchases and $4.63 billion in dividends in FY2025, meaning buybacks were roughly four times dividends and materially reduced share count to support EPS growth. The stock trades at a trailing P/E of 32.3 versus a 10-year median of 34.3 and yields 0.8% today (would equate to ~3.6% if buybacks were paid as dividends), illustrating management’s preference for buybacks as capital allocation.

The author expects low-double-digit annual earnings growth even if consumer spending cools, and sentiment metrics in the supplied signals are strongly positive for Visa (sentiment_score 0.72, per-ticker 0.8) with a modest market-impact score (0.35). Key monitoring points are buyback cadence, FCF sustainability and transaction-volume trends; a sustained shift away from aggressive repurchases or softening consumer spending would reduce the thesis’s upside and should trigger reassessment.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Consider accumulating Visa on meaningful pullbacks given FY2025’s $21.58 billion FCF and $18.19 billion of buybacks that support EPS accretion
• Stagger purchases (dollar-cost average) and size positions prudently because valuation is reasonable but not cheap (trailing P/E 32.3 versus 10-year median 34.3)
• Monitor quarterly FCF, share-repurchase cadence and share-count trends and be prepared to reassess if buybacks materially slow or capital allocation pivots toward dividends
• Watch consumer transaction-volume indicators as a near-term risk to the projected low-double-digit earnings growth and compare Visa’s risk/reward to other high-quality names in Berkshire’s portfolio before final allocation