Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) is slowly chipping away at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s prestige. Bloomberg’s Margaret Collins reports that Berkshire replaced Apple as the top stock pick among millionaires in the U.S. and Canada.
Berkshire replaces Apple atop Tiger 21 survey
Tiger 21 is a group of wealthy investors based in New York, and they chose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) as their favorite stock in their annual survey. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) held that position for the last two years, but it fell to second place.
Shares of Apple have declined more than 25% since their high in September 2012. The company has been fighting companies offering products at lower prices. It also has been fending off investor fears that it can no longer innovate without Steve Jobs. The fact that millionaires chose Berkshire Hathaway over Apple shows that investors still approve of his investing strategies even though the 83-year-old has yet to name his successor at the firm.
Other places where Berkshire has dethroned Apple this year
This year has marked a serious of declines for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) compared to Berkshire. In July, Berkshire replaced Apple as CNBC’s most-looked up stock for a time. That same month, Apple lost the title of most respected company in the world to Berkshire Hathaway.
This year Apple has also struggled to remain the most valuable company in the world, trading positions with Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) a few times in market cap size.
Other honorable mentions on the Tiger 21 survey
QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), which is the largest chip maker for mobile phones, was the other individual company to land in the survey’s top five listing. The company climbed 16 places from number 20 last year up to number 4 this year.
The other two stocks in the survey’s top five were exchange-traded funds, which is a first for the survey. They were the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (NYSEARCA:EFA), which was third on the list, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY), which was fifth on the list.
