Billionaire Jim Simons’ Cheap Stock Picks Include Apple Inc. (AAPL)

DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV) was another of Renaissance’s favorite cheap stock picks; the fund owned 4.2 million shares of DirecTV at the beginning of January. Warren Buffett also likes the stock, with Berkshire Hathaway reporting a position of 34 million shares in its own 13F filing (check out Buffett’s stock picks). DirecTV qualifies as cheap with trailing and forward P/Es of 11 and 9, respectively, and in the fourth quarter revenue was up 8% versus a year earlier. With higher margins as well, the company was able to clear 30% earnings growth.

Renaissance increased its stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF), a $13 billion market cap manufacturer of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, by 57%. Agriculture is theorized by some to be a growth industry as the world population increases and as a richer population in the developing world demands more meat (which would in turn increase demand for crops). CF also looks like a value prospect as its trailing and forward earnings multiples are both below 10. Tiger Cub Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management is another major shareholder in CF Industries (research more stocks Citrone likes).

According to the filing Renaissance owned 4.2 million shares of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK), up 12% from three months earlier. Airlines are stereotypically terrible investments, but several have done well over the last year and Alaska Air itself is up 60%. The trailing earnings multiple is 13, with the sell-side projecting strong growth: the $4 billion valuation represents 9 times forward earnings estimates and a five-year PEG ratio of 0.4. Par Capital Management had 4.1 million shares in its own portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012.

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