We recently learned that while Warren Buffett and his team made several stock purchases in the fourth quarter of 2020, the largest addition by far was the new almost $9 billion stake in Verizon (NYSE: VZ). In this Fool Live video clip, recorded on Feb. 22, Fool.com contributor Matt Frankel, CFP, and Industry Focus host Jason Moser discuss why Buffett might have decided to place such a big bet on the telecom giant. 10 stocks we like better than Verizon CommunicationsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Verizon Communications wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 Jason Moser: Matt, let's tackle what's been going on in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio. Let's start with the newcomers. There are four new stocks in Berkshire's portfolio. Correct me if I'm wrong; I feel like one of these new stocks he owned before, too. It's like he re-established a position in, I think, one of these companies, didn't he? Matt Frankel: Yes. There were four. There was a company called E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ: SSP), which he technically bought in January, but we already knew about that one. That's the publishing company. There's Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC), which is a financial services firm. Both of those are relatively small investments by Berkshire standards. When I say small, I mean only about a half a billion dollars. [laughs] The two big ones by far were Verizon and Chevron (NYSE: CVX). I know Buffett used to own Verizon to some extent, I think. Moser: OK. I was thinking Chevron. Frankel: Or was it Chevron? Moser: For some reason, I felt like he maybe held an interest in Chevron before and then closed it out at some point. Frankel: I think you're right. I have to double-check on the particulars of that. But those were big investments. They're not big compared to Berkshire's, say, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) or Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) investment. But those were built up over time. Moser: Right. Frankel: For the Verizon, one in particular was almost $9 billion. Moser: Man! Frankel: That's a lot for Buffett to spend on one stock to establish a position all at once. A lot of investors were not happy to see that those were the two big buys. I mean, $13 billion between Verizon and Chevron. Because a lot of people think of those as boring stocks. They thought Buffett lost his touch, things like that. A couple of things I would say to that. First of all, I would much rather $9 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's capital be in Verizon than in cash. Moser: Yeah. Frankel: It's a much more productive use of the money. Verizon pays a very nice dividend, I want to say in the 5% ballpark right now. Moser: I'm looking at it right now -- 4.4% yield. I mean, you can't discount that. Frankel: Right. What was it? Sitting in Treasury securities earning like 0.1%. So this is definitely a better use of capital. Moser: Sure. Jason Moser has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Matthew Frankel, CFP owns shares of Apple and Bank of America. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source