Two of the Best Stocks to Buy Now: Apple and Berkshire Hathaway for Long-Term Growth

When investors search for the best stocks to buy now, they’re often torn between two competing strategies: chasing high-growth opportunities or building defensive positions. But what if you could have both in a single portfolio? For 2026 and beyond, Apple and Berkshire Hathaway emerge as the best stocks to buy now precisely because they complement each other so well—one providing explosive growth potential while the other acts as a financial fortress.

These aren’t just solid companies; they’re strategic partners that address opposite portfolio needs. The tech innovator delivers exposure to cutting-edge business momentum and transformative technology, while the insurance and investment conglomerate offers something increasingly rare: a cash-heavy balance sheet with the flexibility to capitalize on market dislocations. Together, they create a balanced approach to capturing both growth and optionality.

Why These Two Stocks Work Together Better Than Apart

The investment case for pairing Apple and Berkshire Hathaway represents a sophisticated approach to portfolio construction. Apple gives you a window into the future of technology with accelerating business fundamentals. Berkshire provides a cushion—a massive pile of capital that can be deployed when opportunities arise.

This dynamic matters more in 2026 than ever before. Market volatility remains a constant threat, and investors need both companies that can drive returns through operational excellence and companies that can pounce on weakness. Apple and Berkshire together essentially give you both a gas pedal and a brake—growth and stability in one convenient package.

The pairing also highlights a broader principle: the best stocks to buy now often aren’t standalone heroes but rather complementary positions that work harder together than apart. By splitting your conviction across both companies, you reduce single-company risk while maintaining exposure to two different engines of wealth creation.

Apple’s Unstoppable Growth Momentum Justifies Premium Valuation

Apple’s recent fiscal results paint the picture of a company hitting its stride. In the most recent quarter, the company grew sales 8% year-over-year—solid but perhaps unremarkable on the surface. The real story, however, lies in how the company is reshaping its revenue mix.

Services revenue, Apple’s highest-margin business, grew 15% year-over-year in the quarter and is actually accelerating. This matters because Apple’s earlier weakness was attributed to sluggish iPhone sales. But fiscal 2025 results (with full-year revenue hitting $416 billion) demonstrated that the company is far more than just a hardware maker. The quarter’s growth rate in services outpaced the 13.5% full-year increase, suggesting the business segment is building real momentum heading into 2026.

Apple’s financial flexibility deserves mention too. The company generated tremendous free cash flow during the year, and with a net cash position on its balance sheet, Apple had the firepower to return $90.7 billion to shareholders through repurchases alone. CEO Kevan Parekh noted that the company achieved “double-digit EPS growth” while hitting “record fiscal year” results, with an installed base of active devices reaching “all-time highs.”

Management expects even more acceleration ahead. The guidance for the critical holiday quarter calls for revenue growth of 10-12%, bolstered by what the company sees as a robust iPhone upgrade cycle and double-digit services expansion.

At a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 33, Apple’s valuation appears punchy. But premium valuations are justified for companies executing at this level. If the company delivers on its growth promises—and the trajectory suggests it will—shareholders are likely to be rewarded for their patience with elevated multiples.

Berkshire’s Fortress Balance Sheet Offers Stability and Opportunity

While Apple represents technology’s future, Berkshire Hathaway represents financial optionality and strategic flexibility. The company trades at just 1.6 times book value, making it one of the market’s best value plays for investors seeking downside protection.

But Berkshire’s real moat is its balance sheet. With over $350 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term Treasury bills, the company possesses what few others can match: genuine financial ammunition. This cash hoard isn’t dead money sitting idly; it’s waiting for moments when market dislocations create opportunities that only patient capital can exploit.

Beyond the cash, Berkshire offers something else increasingly rare: true diversification. The conglomerate operates a sprawling insurance operation, BNSF Railway, a massive energy business, and dozens of other subsidiaries generating reliable cash flows. This contrasts sharply with Apple’s highly concentrated revenue stream, where iPhone sales account for more than half of total revenue.

For investors building portfolios in 2026, Berkshire provides the stability that allows you to take risk elsewhere (like with Apple). You know the company can navigate market downturns because it’s built specifically to do so—insurance profits from economic chaos, and massive cash reserves allow opportunistic deployment.

Understanding the Key Risks Before You Invest

No investment is without risk, and both companies present meaningful challenges that investors must weigh.

Apple’s dependence on iPhone revenue remains its Achilles heel. A sustained smartphone sales slowdown would create significant headwinds. Additionally, Apple’s global manufacturing and sales footprint exposes the company to geopolitical disruption, regulatory challenges, and currency fluctuations. The premium valuation also leaves little room for error; strong execution from Apple throughout 2026 is essential for the stock to continue appreciating.

Berkshire faces its own hurdles. Most significantly, 2025 marked Warren Buffett’s final year as CEO. Successor Greg Abel now carries the immense responsibility of managing the company without Buffett’s operational control. This represents a fundamental shift in leadership philosophy and execution capability. Investors will be closely monitoring whether Abel can replicate the capital allocation discipline that built Berkshire into its current form.

The stakes are particularly high given Berkshire’s cash position. Shareholders will expect Abel to deploy a meaningful portion of the $350+ billion war chest productively. Poor capital allocation decisions could significantly dampen returns and disappoint long-term investors.

Making Your 2026 Investment Decision

Looking at the landscape of the best stocks to buy now, Apple and Berkshire Hathaway merit serious consideration for 2026 and beyond. They’re not flashy picks, but they’re strategically sound—combining growth, value, diversification, and financial optionality in ways few other pairs can match.

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor team has identified other compelling opportunities as well, but the complementary nature of these two companies makes them particularly suitable for investors seeking a balanced yet growth-oriented portfolio. History shows that the best stocks to buy now often aren’t obvious at first glance; they’re positions that reveal their merit over multiple years as fundamentals play out.

Consider this: investors who recognized Netflix and Nvidia as standout opportunities in the early-to-mid 2000s and held through volatility generated returns exceeding 500,000% and 1,100,000% respectively—returns that compound into life-changing wealth. Apple and Berkshire may not generate those multiples, but their combination of quality, growth, stability, and management excellence positions them as core holdings worthy of long-term conviction.