10 Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Now According To Ray Dalio

In this article, we present the list of the 10 best cheap stocks to buy now according to Ray Dalio. Click to skip ahead and see the 5 best cheap stocks to buy now according to Ray Dalio.

Ray Dalio is the Founder, Co-Chairman, and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world with over $140 billion in assets under management. Under his leadership of nearly four decades, the firm has grown into the fifth most important private company in the US, according to Fortune Magazine.

Bridgewater Associates has been one of the most successful hedge funds in the world, delivering average annualized gains of 10.4% since 1991. However, the fund had not evaded the negative impact of COVID-19 as its flagship Pure Alpha II fund had lost 18.6% through August.

Despite the hit of the pandemic, Dalio has been optimistic about the future early on, mentioning that “We’re now in a wonderful revolution in terms of the capacity to think and use that in a way. I would say that is absolutely the most treasured thing in the future.” This long-term perspective has previously translated into successful recoveries during tough times. The fund suffered losses during the dot-com crash in 2000 (22%) and the financial crisis in 2008 (20%) but managed to bounce back with 20%+ gains between 2002 and 2004 and 45% and 25% gains in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

If you’re looking for the best cheap stocks to buy now that smart investors have taken advantage of, Dalio’s most recent moves show some clear trends in this direction. Bridgewater Associates added multiple healthcare stocks, which could benefit from the ongoing and increasingly followed progress in medicine. Other new investments have been made in food industry giants and producers of consumer staples, the demand for which has been positively impacted by the pandemic.

There’s a very good reason why we pay close attention to hedge fund sentiment before making investment decisions. Our research has shown that hedge funds’ small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, though the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 78 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren’t comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in stocks that are in our short portfolio.

For the best cheap stocks to buy right now, we looked into Ray Dalio’s top positions in his fresh 13F filing and identified the 10 cheapest stocks with a P/E ratio of 20 or lower among these biggest positions. You might say "hey, a P/E ratio of 20 isn't cheap", but compared to S&P 500 Index's trailing P/E ratio of 37, these stocks are cheap. Here are the best cheap stocks to buy right now according to billionaire Dalio:

10. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

We begin with The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR), an American retailer, currently valued at $25 billion. Bridgewater’s position in Kroger at the end of September was worth $10 million, after a significant increase of 953% during Q3. Clearly, Bridgewater wants to solidify its stake in the company, as consumer staples industries have performed well during the pandemic.

Kroger has shown signs of improving profitability during Q2, as operating income was 2.7% of total sales compared to 2% in the previous year. Nevertheless, KR investors should know that there is a decrease in overall hedge funds sentiment regarding the stock recently. At the end of September, 35 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long in the stock, a change of -6 from the previous quarter. Legendary Warren Buffett didn't agree with the hedge fund crowd and were adding to his KR holdings during the third quarter (see the 10 stocks Warren Buffett just bought).

9. Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE:TSN)

Next on the list is Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE:TSN), the world’s major producer of beef, chicken, and pork. Dalio’s stake in TSN consists of 177,887 shares, valued at $10.6 million on September 30. The fund has been bullish on the stock, boosting its position by 1239% during Q3, contrary to the general bearish sentiment towards TSN. At the end of June, the stock was in only 37 hedge funds’ portfolios, relative to the all-time high statistic of 58 at the end of 2019. The number of hedge funds with bullish TSN positions continued its decline during Q3, dropping to 36.

The decrease in support of TSN is not surprising, as large processing plants have been hardly hit by the impact of COVID-19. The company suffered COVID-related expenses amounting to $540 million during FY2020, according to their latest Q4 report. Nevertheless, the company remains positive about the future, raising its quarterly dividend by about 6% to $0.445 per share (Class A) from Q3. TSN has a current P/E ratio of 12 and offers a 2.45% dividend yield. It also started outperforming the market over the last month. We believe it will continue beat the S&P 500 Index over the next 6-12 months as life goes back to normal.

8. Kellogg Company (NYSE:K)

Dalio added 171,336 new shares of Kellogg Co. (NYSE:K) to his 13F portfolio during Q3, establishing a position worth $11 million. Kellogg’s is an American multinational food manufacturing company, popular for its cereal brands. The stock has seen fluctuating hedge fund sentiment throughout the year. The number of long positions in the stock increased by 23% during Q1. For example, Diamond Hill Capital, in its Q1 2020 Investor letter, highlighted Kellogg’s and their reasoning for investing in the stock:

“We initiated a position in Kellogg Co. which is the global leader in cereal across both the developed and developing world and a powerhouse in snacking with many recognizable brands such as Poptarts, RxBar, Cheez-Its, and Pringles.”

However, the mood changed during Q2, when hedge funds positions were reduced by 4 to 33 at the end of June. Year-to-date, the stock has a return of about -4% (through December 2nd), compared to the market’s return of 14.5%. Nonetheless, Kellogg’s investors value the company’s stability and consistency, as its Board of Directors announced in October a quarterly dividend of $0.57 per share of common stock (dividend yield of 3.6%). Kellogg's trailing P/E is only 18. Once investors feel more confident about the pandemic and realize that it doesn't make sense to buy bonds, they will flock into relatively cheaper dividend stocks like K.

7. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (NYSE:ADM)

286,909 shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (NYSE:ADM) were added to Bridgewater’s 13F portfolio during Q4, valued at $12.5 million. ADM is another American multinational in the food industry in which Dalio established a new position. At the end of Q3, ADM was in the portfolios of 26 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, down by 2 from the previous quarter.

Besides Bridgewater, Diamond Hill Capital is another fund that sees potential in ADM’s future growth. The latter currently has the largest stake in ADM, worth $220.3 million at the end of Q3. Diamond Hill Capital has been hopeful about ADM since the beginning of the year, as they mentioned in their Q1 2020 investor letter:

ADM has a trailing P/E of 18 and has a 2.9% dividend yield.

6. Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX)

We continue with Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX), another new addition to Bridgewater’s 13F portfolio, comprising 329,968 shares worth $12.6 million. Boston Scientific is a manufacturer of medical devices that are used in interventional medical specialties. Overall hedge fund sentiment towards BSX has been bullish in recent months, as the number of bets at the end of Q2 aggregated to 66, compared to the previous all-time high of 59. This figure currently stands at 61 as a net of five hedge funds cashed out.

According to Yahoo Finance, the stock’s trailing PE ratio equals 13.11. The stock’s performance is fairly disappointing as it returned -2.7% during Q3 and underperformed the market’s return of 19.42%. On the other hand, the company is making significant R&D investments, which have been highlighted by Artisan Mid Cap Fund in its Q1 2020 Investor Letter. In September 2020 Boston Scientific Corp. announced an expanded investment and exclusive acquisition option agreement with Farapulse, Inc., whose technology specializes in various cardiac treatments. Here is what Scott Olson, senior vice president and president, Rhythm Management, Boston Scientific had to say:

"Our expanded investment in this technology, combined with our recent CE Marked cryoablation and contact force catheters with local impedance technology, affirms our commitment to offer physicians an innovative and comprehensive portfolio of electrophysiology products and services."

Click to continue reading and see the rest of our list of the 5 best cheap stocks to buy now according to Ray Dalio.

Related article:

• 10 best growth stocks to buy now according to Ray Dalio

Disclosure: None. 10 best cheap stocks to buy now according to Ray Dalio is originally published at Insider Monkey.