With as impressive of an investing track record as Warren Buffett has achieved, you'd expect his Berkshire Hathaway portfolio would be loaded with great stocks. And you'd be right. The good news is that you don't need a huge amount of cash to buy many of those stocks.

S&P 500 investors are playing it safer in 2025 — so Warren Buffett's careful stock-picking is in style again.

What we can do today is look at Buffett's actions with Berkshire Hathaway's invested assets. Right now, one action stands out above the rest: the company's monster cash pile. At the end of the third quarter,

Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK.A 1.42%) ( BRK.B 1.11%) owns shares of more than 40 different companies in its portfolio. To be perfectly honest, there's a solid investment case to be made for all of them. After all, Warren Buffett and his team tend to invest in industry leaders with excellent cash flow and durable competitive advantages.

Warren Buffett is known for his investing success, generating market-beating returns over the long run. As chairman, he's helped Berkshire Hathaway deliver a compounded annual gain of more than 19% over 58 years -- that's as the S&P 500 posted a compounded increase of about 10% during that period.