**Why Buffett's Second-Largest Bet Might Be a Sleeper Winner**

While everyone's fixated on Apple and Google in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, Buffett quietly holds 151.6M shares of American Express—worth ~$50B and making it his #2 equity position. Here's the thing: he hasn't trimmed it in decades, unlike Apple.

Why the conviction? AmEx isn't just a payments network—it sits on both sides of transactions, meaning they own the customer data. That moat is *chef's kiss*.

2024 numbers hit different:
- Revenue: +9% YoY to $65.9B
- EPS: +25% to $14.01
- Returned $7.9B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends)

Q3 momentum accelerated further—11% revenue growth, 19% EPS growth. The Platinum card refresh alone doubled new account acquisitions.

**The play:** Trading at 24x PE (way cheaper than Apple at 36x or Google at 30x), yet printing double-digit growth with fortress credit metrics. Yes, recession risk is real. But 10 years out? This could be one of Buffett's best calls.

The boring old payments company nobody talks about might just print money quietly.