Warren Buffett was notorious for avoiding technology stocks. Now, it appears, he’s embraced them.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) reported a 41.4-million-share stake of computing giant Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) as of the end of September, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. Buffett's conglomerate also has been building a substantial stake in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) for the last two years, ending the third quarter with approximately 252 million shares, about 500,000 more than it owned at the end of June.
Oracle shares jumped 92 cents, or 1.9%, to $49.71, in early Thursday trading. The shares are up 3.3% this year as of Wednesday's closing price. Berkshire's regulatory filing appeared after the closing bell.
Oracle would be only one of two major tech stakes Berkshire holds. It once held IBM (NYSE: IBM) shares but sold out of that stake completely earlier this year. Berkshire's pivot away from IBM toward companies like Apple and Oracle would seem to be a changing of the guard for tech stocks.
Other news to come out of Oracle: Wednesday, UNIFI Communications, a leading international voice carrier, has selected Oracle to improve long-term efficiency and communication reliability for its growing customer base. UNIFI will replace its existing session border controller platform with Oracle's Enterprise Session Border Controllers, optimizing Internet Protocol voice, video, and data services for the carrier.
