Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen’s Top Stock Picks Include The Boeing Company (BA)

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG), which manufactures the da Vinci surgical system for precision surgical procedures, was another of Halvorsen’s top picks. Revenue and earnings each grew by over 20% last quarter compared to the first quarter of 2012, but the market is already accounting for high growth at the company over the next several years going by the current valuation- $19 billion, making for a trailing P/E of 28. Lone Pine Capital, managed by billionaire (and fellow Tiger Cub) Stephen Mandel, had been buying Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) during the fourth quarter of 2012 (find more stocks Lone Pine was buying).

The fund more than doubled the size of its position in Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN), with a total of 9.5 million shares at the beginning of April. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) is a biotechnology company whose primary product, Soliris, is used to treat blood disorders. At a market capitalization of just under $20 billion, the market is taking a quite long-term view on Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) with analyst consensus estimates for 2014 implying a forward earnings multiple of 31. Renaissance Technologies, whose founder Jim Simons is now a billionaire, had owned about 470,000 shares at the beginning of this year (research Renaissance’s favorite stocks).

Rounding out Halvorsen’s top picks is $37 billion market cap specialty chemicals company LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB), with the filing showing a position of over 13 million shares. Many chemicals companies are trading at low multiples, with LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) in fact valued at 12 times its trailing earnings. We’d note that demand for the company’s products- and therefore the stock price- is dependent on the broader economy, with the result being a beta of 2.5. Billionaire Dan Loeb’s Third Point’s 13F for the fourth quarter of 2012 had shown a position of 2.4 million shares (see more stocks Third Point owned).

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.