This Billionaire Loves Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) & Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC). Why?

Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) was another of the fund’s top picks with the filing disclosing ownership of about 760,000 shares. Hershey actually grew nicely in the second quarter of 2013, with revenue up 7% versus a year earlier and net income climbing 18%. However, markets have been quite aggressive in pricing further growth and the trailing earnings multiple is 30- it does not look like a good value at that price. We would note that the beta is only 0.2. Renaissance Technologies, whose founder Jim Simons is now a billionaire, owned 2.8 million shares in its most recent 13F (find Renaissance’s favorite stocks).

According to the 13F, Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB), the personal products company behind brands such as Kleenex and Huggies, was another of Winton’s largest positions. The stock pays a dividend yield of 3.3% at current prices, and it is even more defensive than Hershey with a beta of essentially zero in statistical terms. Its earnings growth has not been as rapid as that company, though investors have found it less exciting and so its trailing P/E is 21. Still, that does seem a bit pricy for only a modestly growing company and so investors may want to wait on Kinberly-Clark unless they are particularly negative on the market.

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