Stocks to buy

Warren Buffett stocks only seem to get hotter in down markets. Even though the bears may scoff, recall that after all the press, no huge crisis materialized.

Bullish, conservative investors should buy some Warren Buffett stocks on weakness at this point.

Also noteworthy is that the Oracle of Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A,NYSE: BRK.B) bought the shares of many cyclical companies throughout 2022.

Among the cyclical names that Berkshire bought was oil producer Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY).

Investors should emulate the Oracle of Omaha and snap up these three Warren Buffett stocks to buy as the market recovers.

BAC Bank of America  $27.90
AXP American Express  $159.32
LPX Louisiana Pacific $53.53

Bank of America (BAC)

Source: Andriy Blokhin / Shutterstock.com

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) stock has dropped below $30 “for the first time since 2020,” Barron’s noted.

If you don’t think the U.S. is headed for a ruinous recession, the decline appears to be unjustified. Large banks benefit from deposit inflows because of worries about smaller banks.

Unlike smaller banks, BAC will probably not have to raise the interest rates it pays for deposits a great deal because of the security “too-large-to-fail” provides. As a result, it’s well-positioned to benefit from healthy net interest margins.

And analysts, on average, expect BAC’s earnings per share to climb to $3.39 this year from the $3.19 that it delivered in 2022.

BMO Capital analyst Brian Belski is very upbeat on large financial stocks, calling them last month “the value play in the market,” as their growth is speeding up. He recommended investors buy BAC stock on weakness.

The forward price-earnings ratio of BAC stock is a tiny 8.15.

American Express (AXP)

Source: Shutterstock

Berkshire Hathaway has a 20% stake in the iconic credit card network, American Express (NYSE:AXP). As of a month ago, Berkshire’s shares of AXP stock were worth a cool $22.4 billion.

Even excluding inflation and despite the banking mini-crisis, the Fed is predicting that Americans’ spending surged 3.4% year-over-year in the first quarter.

Therefore, American Express, whose income is connected to the purchases made by middle-class and wealthy cardholders, is in an incredibly advantageous situation.

Analysts, on average, expect the company’s earnings per share to climb this year to $11.13 from the $9.85 that it generated in 2022.

AXP stock has a low forward price-earnings ratio of 14.5.

Louisiana Pacific (LPX)

Source: ARMMY PICCA/ShutterStock.com

As I noted in the introduction to this column, LPX “produces materials used in new home construction.”

In the third quarter of 2022, Berkshire bought 5.8 million shares of LPX, which closed at  $52.98 on April 5.

As I noted in a previous column, with interest rates poised to drop and housing supplies not large enough to keep up with demand, “Macroeconomic conditions should result in a strong housing rebound in the medium term.” Consequently, homebuilders will be incentivized to step up their production, lifting LPX’s financial results.

Indeed, analysts, on average, expect LPX’s earnings per share to climb to $4.48 next year from $2.73 this year. The shares are changing hands at a very low forward price-earnings ratio of just 53.

On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Larry Ramer has conducted research and written articles on U.S. stocks for 15 years. He has been employed by The Fly and Israel’s largest business newspaper, Globes. Larry began writing columns for InvestorPlace in 2015. Among his highly successful, contrarian picks have been PLUG, XOM and solar stocks. You can reach him on Stocktwits at @larryramer.

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