Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Cheap Stock Picks Include Wells Fargo

We track 13F filings from hedge funds and other notable investors, which disclose many of their long equity positions as of the end of the previous quarter, for a variety of purposes. For one, we research investment strategies which can be applied based on the information found in 13Fs. We have found, for example, that the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds generate an average excess return of 18 percentage points per year (learn more about our small cap strategy). Many investors like to use 13Fs as a way to find stock ideas for further research, and so we also provide a brief analysis of many filers’ top picks in a number of categories including “traditional value stocks” as measured by price-to-earnings multiples. Here are the five of the largest holdings from billionaire Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management (find more of Fisher’s favorite stocks) which have both trailing and forward P/Es of 15 or lower:

In a piece for Forbes magazine (where Fisher works as a columnist) he named Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) his top stock pick for 2013. The megacap drug manufacturer was also his fund’s largest single-stock position at nearly 32 million shares. Pfizer, as it happens, was the most popular healthcare stock among hedge funds in the fourth quarter of 2012 as well (see more healthcare stocks hedge funds loved). The stock trades at 14 times trailing earnings, with analysts expecting growth in net income over the next couple years. Pfizer also pays a substantial dividend yield, at 3.5% going by current prices and recent payments.

Fisher reported a position of about 33 million shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), which at a trailing earnings multiple of 12 is another value stock. In Cisco’s most recent fiscal quarter, which ended in January, the company experienced 5% revenue growth compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year with considerably higher margins powering earnings up by over 40%. Even if earnings converge to the revenue growth rate it might be cheap at the current price. Platinum Asset Management, managed by billionaire Kerr Neilson, is another major shareholder of Cisco (check out Neilson’s stock picks).

Here are three more stocks Fisher owns, including two big banks: