Top Stock Picks from Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is World’s Greatest Investor who has proved he can make good money in stocks even in difficult times. He is investing through is investment company Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett’s 44-year investment record at the helm of Berkshire is the stuff of legend. The 20 percent–a–year increase in the company’s book value per share—the company’s assets minus its liabilities—is more than double the S&P 500′s 9.3 percent return over the same stretch. This month Buffett celebrates 80 years on this planet.

 Buffett is usually eager to buy American brands like General Electric (NYSE: GE), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) for his investment portfolio—but when the price is right elsewhere, he’ll change direction. And as it turns out, he’s just as willing to make over his company as he is his wardrobe.

Recently Buffett successfully managed the groundbreaking $26.3 billion acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI). To help raise money for the purchase, Berkshire sold shares of long-held names like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Kraft (NYSE: KFT). And other signs have recently emerged that Buffett is less inclined to play the market: At his 2010 annual shareholder’s meeting, Buffett and his longtime partner Charlie Munger floated the possibility of paying a dividend, a previously sacrilegious idea that would further shrink Berkshire’s pool of investable money.

Here is Buffett’s Top Stock Picks.

Buffett has sold shares of some of his favorite names over the past year, but he’s quietly bought these companies’ stock.

Republic Services (NYSE: RSG)
Fast-growing waste-management company also pays a healthy dividend.

Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX)
Uncertainty about health care reform made shares of this medical-device maker look cheap.

Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM)
Information-management firm is benefiting from fears about cyber-snooping.

Tesco (Other OTC: TSCDY.PK)
UK-based 4,800-store chain has been adept at adapting to local markets worldwide—including, since 2007, in the U.S.