By Mackenzie Tatananni

Shares of Constellation Brands and Domino's Pizza were on the rise in premarket trading Tuesday, largely due to an unlikely hero -- billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Constellation Brands, the beer, wine and spirits producer, was up 6.5% to $173.50, while shares of the pizza chain rose 2.8% to $490. The gains came after Berkshire Hathaway revealed in a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had established a new stake in the beverage company while nearly doubling its holding in Domino's Pizza.

The new investment in Constellation Brands totaled 5.6 million shares worth over $1 billion as of Dec. 31, according to Berkshire's quarterly Form 13F.

Constellation had a tumultuous 2024. The stock closed down 26% to $221 last year, marking the biggest yearly lost since 2018, when it ended the year down nearly 30%. Shares tumbled in January after the company reported an earnings miss for its fiscal third quarter and slashed its guidance.

Concerns over President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexican imports have also been weighing on the stock. While the shares were given some breathing room following Trump's announcement that import taxes would be delayed for a month, analysts are bracing for a storm ahead. Earlier this month, Piper Sandler downgraded Constellation Brands to Neutral from Overweight over tariff concerns.

Also on Friday, Berkshire revealed that it had brought its stake in Domino's Pizza to 2.4 million shares during the fourth quarter. In an earlier 13F filing, the conglomerate shared that it owned around 1.3 million shares as of the third quarter of 2024. It took its first stake in the company, worth $550 million, in November.

Domino's Pizza ended 2024 up 1.8% at $419.76, representing its worst yearly performance since 2022. The stock is currently up 14% this year, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Barron's named Domino's a stock pick in December, arguing that its underperformance versus the S&P 500 was due to industry-wide headwinds rather than poor management. We said the company's success would hinge on the recovery of international markets, particularly Europe and Asia, in 2025.

Buffett began investing in Berkshire, at the time a beleaguered textile manufacturer, in 1962. In the years that followed, Buffett and long-time business partner Charles Munger grew Berkshire into the world's largest holding company. The so-called Oracle of Omaha currently serves as Berkshire's CEO, overseeing its $300 billion equity portfolio.

Constellation Brands and Domino's Pizza weren't the only stocks moving Tuesday as a result of Berkshire's latest filing. The conglomerate reported that it had reduced its holdings in Bank of America and Citigroup, while leaving its position in Apple -- its largest equity holding -- unchanged.

Shares of Bank of America and Citigroup were down 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively, while Apple was roughly flat in premarket trading.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2025 08:41 ET (13:41 GMT)

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