Lee Ainslie’s Low P/E Stock Picks Include Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Fidelity National Financial Inc (NYSE:FNF) was another of the fund’s top stock picks with the 13F disclosing ownership of almost 9 million shares. Fidelity National Financial provides title insurance and related services and has a market capitalization of $5.5 billion. Decaying margins pulled net income down 12% last quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 despite a significant improvement on the top line. So while the earnings multiples are low, the financial performance is questionable. Billionaire John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. initiated a position of 2.5 million shares between October and December (research more stocks Paulson was buying).

Ainslie cut his stake in health insurer Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) by 39% but still had 3.7 million shares in his portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter. Cigna was one of billionaire David Einhorn’s two long stock picks at October’s Value Investing Congress; his Greenlight Capital owned 8.2 million shares according to its own 13F (find Einhorn’s favorite stocks). Cigna recently acquired another health insurer to strengthen its Medicare business and so comparisons to last year look artificially high as a result. The stock carries trailing and forward P/Es of 11 and 9, respectively, as the market worries about future regulation of health insurers if health care costs do not flatten.

The fund bought 1.3 million shares of Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) after not having owned any at the end of September. The trailing P/E of 15 suggests moderate growth over the next several years, though Nordstrom recorded double-digit growth rates of both revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter of 2012 versus a year earlier. As such it might be worth a closer look. Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group sold over half of its shares during the fourth quarter, closing December with about 950,000 shares (see more stocks Griffin was buying and selling).

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