Citadel moved heavily into Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the second quarter of the year. The credit services company is a good deal cheaper than peers such as Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) and Visa Inc (NYSE:V), featuring a trailing P/E of 11. It also recorded double-digit growth rates on both top and bottom lines in its most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year, and we think that it is worth considering as a value play. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management had 2.8 million shares of Discover in its portfolio at the beginning of July.
Another cheap financial stock in the fund’s portfolio was Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF), a regional bank operating primarily in southern states. In the second quarter of 2013 Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) actually experienced a significant decline in profits versus a year earlier, and Wall Street analysts are predicting fairly constant earnings per share next year. Still, this results in both the trailing and forward earnings multiples coming in at 11 and the stock’s P/B ratio is a bit below 1 as well. Renaissance Technologies, whose founder Jim Simons is now a billionaire, was another significant shareholder in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) (research more stocks Renaissance owns).
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) rounds out our list as Griffin disclosed ownership of 8.6 million shares of the drug company- up significantly from three months earlier. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is notable for embarking on a strategy of selling or spinning out many of its assets, a process which bulls believe will help management improve the operations of the core business. With a forward P/E of 12, the stock could be a good opportunity if that proves correct. According to our database, billionaire Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management has Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) as one of its top picks (see more stocks Fisher likes).
Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.