Billionaire T. Boone Pickens’s New Stock Picks Include Apache Corporation (APA), Tesoro Corporation (TSO)

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Also in this category of new downstream picks in Pickens’s portfolio was Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC), a fairly recent spinout from Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO). Its stock price has also more than doubled in the last year, and this has come with stronger business as both the company’s revenue and net income grew at double-digit rates in its most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous year. The trailing and forward P/Es here are both 8. Also initiating a position in Marathon Petroleum last quarter was billionaire Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global (find Halvorsen’s favorite stocks).

Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR), a $3.7 billion market cap exploration and production company with acreage in the Gulf Coast as well as in shale plays such as the Utica and Bakken, was another of Pickens’s new picks. While revenue and operating income have actually been down, going by recent reports, the market is quite bullish on Gulfport for the long term: the stock carries trailing and forward P/Es of 34 and 23, respectively. Citadel Investment Group was another buyer of Gulfport during Q1; that hedge fund is managed by billionaire Ken Griffin (see more stocks Griffin likes).

The filing showed BP Capital with a new position of a little less than 80,000 shares in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), another refining and marketing company. As with Marathon and Tesoro, even after strong stock performance over the last year (Phillips 66 has more than doubled in price) it is still clearly in value territory (with a valuation of 9 times forward earnings estimates). The sell-side expects significant earnings growth going forward resulting in a five-year PEG ratio of 0.8. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed ownership of over 27 million shares at the end of the quarter (find more stocks Buffett owns).

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

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