Insiders and Billionaire Richard Chilton Like Dollar General Corp. (DG) and More

$30 billion market cap oil and gas equipment and services company National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was another common pick between the fund and a company insider. The stock carries trailing and forward earnings multiples of 12 and 11, respectively, with analyst expectations for continued growth resulting in a five-year PEG ratio of 0.9. However, higher costs caused a 17% decline in earnings last quarter compared to the first quarter of 2012. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed ownership of 7.5 million shares of National Oilwell Varco as of the beginning of April (research more stocks Berkshire owns).

In late March, a Board member was buying shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), and we see from the 13F that Chilton owned about 740,000 shares of the stock. The quick service restaurant experienced a decline in both sales and net income in the first quarter of 2013 versus a year earlier. While some of that may be due to temporary factors relating to food safety in China, the stock does look a bit expensive for our tastes at 19 times forward earnings estimates. At the very least we would avoid Yum until it is on track for high growth in earnings per share.

Rounding out our list of recent insider purchases which were also in Chilton’s portfolio at the end of Q1 is Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS), a manufacturer of fertilizers. The trailing P/E of 13 is somewhat low in absolute terms but is in line with where fertilizer stocks, and agriculture related companies in general, are trading in the current environment. While earnings were up strongly in Mosaic’s most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year, revenue rose only 2%. Billionaire George Soros was buying the stock between January and March (see more stocks Soros likes).

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