Billionaire David Harding’s Inexpensive Picks Include Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)

Page 2 of 2

The 13F shows Harding adding to his stake in Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), with a total of about 440,000 shares as of the beginning of April. We’d note that while the forward earnings multiple of 11 is low in absolute terms, it does represent a premium to where some other oil majors are valued. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) did manage flat earnings numbers in its last quarterly report compared to the first quarter of 2012, even as revenue fell by 13%. Fisher Asset Management, managed by billionaire Ken Fisher, reported a position of 4.6 million shares as of the end of March (find Fisher’s favorite stocks).

Winton owned about 750,000 shares of The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) according to the filing. The insurance company trades at a small premium to the book value of its equity- the P/B ratio is 1.1- but management has been effective enough at converting its assets into earnings that the P/E multiples are in value territory. The company has been struggling a bit, with little change in revenue and a small decrease in net income, but the stock is still cheap enough that we would be interested in learning more about Allstate and potentially comparing it to its peers.

We’re quite interested in the aerospace and defense companies, with Lockheed Martin the first prospect we’d want to take a look at given its impressive yield. Oil majors are also somewhat attractive at current levels, though as we’ve suggested we aren’t sure we’d agree with Harding that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is the best choice in the industry.

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

Page 2 of 2