Warren Buffett Bets on These Top Stocks for 2015

The New Year is here, and Warren Buffett has more than $35 billion staked in three companies that are household names.

Source: The Motley Fool.

At the end of the third quarter,Berkshire Hathaway -- Warren Buffett's company -- disclosed it had a $17 billion stake in Coca-Cola , a $13.4 billion position in IBM , and roughly $5 billion in Wal-Mart . All signs indicate Buffett will continue to hold them into 2015 and well beyond.

Berkshire's beloved beverage Berkshire Hathaway owns 400 million shares of Coca-Cola that were acquired between 1988 and 1994, representing an ownership stake of just over 9% of the company.The position cost just $1.3 billion, but it is now worth $17 billion -- meaning if any shares were sold, a sizable chunk of the gains would have to be paid to Uncle Sam.

But that's not the only reason Buffet remains such a massive investor in the company.In 2014 alone, Berkshire collected nearly $500 million in dividends from Coca-Cola.

Source: The Motley Fool

Yes, the company has faced some troubles in recent years -- a Gallup poll recently found 63% of Americans said they avoid drinking soda versus just 41% in 2002 -- butwe learned in April 2013 why Buffet haszero intentionof selling a single share of Coca-Cola. In fact, Buffett told Coca-Cola's CEO Muhtar Kent at its 2013 annual meeting:

Buffett's onto something here. Of the 111 brands Coca-Cola controls,17 have an estimated value higher than $1 billion. With its dividends and massive competitive advantage, it's no wonder Buffett is betting big on Coca-Cola this year and for many more to come.

The market laggardCoca-Cola is the second-largest position in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio; next on the list is IBM. And while it seems insensible, Buffett is actually thankful IBM has lagged the market Berkshire first began amassing its stake.

How is this possible? Well, Buffetviews his ownership positions in companies like IBM as direct ownership of their earnings through their their operations and not just numbers on a screen.

Since IBM has been aggressively repurchasing its shares -- to the tune of nearly $55 billionsince 2011 -- its income from continuing operations essentially haven't budged over the last three years while the earnings attributable to Berkshire based on its year-end ownership have risen by nearly 30%:

Source: Company Investor Relations and author calculations.

Of course, Buffett will likely reevaluate Berkshire's stake in IBM if its business operations start to disappoint -- through the first nine months of 2014, its earnings per share from continuing operations was up 5% -- but the disappointing performance of its stock has little to do with how he views the company itself.

The big boxThe final and most interesting stock that Buffett's betting big on is Wal-Mart, the fifth-largest position of BerkshireHathaway.

Source: The Motley Fool

Through the first nine months of 2014, Berkshire steadily added to its stake in the retailer, buying nearly 10.5 million more shares, which likely cost a little more than $750 million. In light of Wal-Mart's unimpressive growth prospects, some were wondering what Buffett was thinking.

Yet in the third quarter, there were signs of optimism as the retailerpostedcomparable-store sales growth of 0.5% -- the first time in seven quarters its same-store sales rose.

In addition, as fellow contributor Dan Caplinger notes, the company's stock soared in November thanks to impressive gains in its online sales. And Wal-Mart's smaller Neighborhood Market stores are performing admirably with comparable-store sales rising 5.5%.

Questions still remain about what the future holds for Wal-Mart, but all signs indicate the company isn't a write-off just yet.

The bottom line In his 2007 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Buffett said:

The reality is, Coca-Cola, IBM, and Wal-Mart all fit that mold. It's no wonder Buffett is betting big on them this year and likely will for years to come.

The article Warren Buffett Bets on These Top Stocks for 2015 originally appeared on Fool.com.

Patrick Morris owns shares of Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool recommends Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and International Business Machines and has the following options: long January 2016 $37 calls on Coca-Cola and short January 2016 $37 puts on Coca-Cola. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.