Renaissance Technologies’ New Stock Picks Include The Boeing Company (BA)

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) was another of Renaissance’s new stock picks with the filing disclosing ownership of 2.4 million shares. The department store has actually been doing all right so far in the face of competition from big-box discount stores and the Internet, with revenue up slightly in its most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year and earnings growing 20%. Analyst expectations imply a forward earnings multiple of 11. AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, had 1.9 million shares in its portfolio according to that fund’s own 13F (find Asness’s favorite stocks).

Renaissance owned 2.4 million shares of $68 billion market cap pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV). With a dividend yield of 3.7%, AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) is a potential income stock (although the same could be said for many other Big Pharma stocks). While earnings multiples are low the sell-side is actually looking for EPS to decline, and so we’d be cautious in evaluating the company’s business. Billionaire Dan Loeb’s Third Point moved heavily into AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) between January and March, closing the quarter with a total of nearly 3 million shares (research more stocks Loeb was buying).

Rounding out the hedge fund’s largest new positions is its 1.1 million shares of The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA). The aircraft manufacturer carries trailing and forward P/Es of 19 and 14, respectively, demonstrating that analysts expect earnings to pick up as the Dreamliner aircraft’s safety troubles have passed. Net income was up significantly in the first quarter of 2013 versus a year earlier but this was due to a lower effective tax rate rather than higher pretax income. Viking Global, managed by billionaire Andreas Halvorsen, bought over 12 million shares during Q1 giving the fund over $1 billion invested in the company. See Halvorsen’s stock picks.

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