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This Nightmare Is a Stock-Picker's Dream

By David Sterman

 About this article:
 In the 15 years that I have been analyzing stocks and industries, I have seen only four or five occasions that were truly momentous for stock-pickers. This is one of them. For long-oriented stock-pickers who find good companies at great prices, many market environments are hard to navigate. The bubble of 1998-2000? Most stocks rose, sharply rendering individual stock selection less meaningful. The recent boom in energy and agricultural stocks? Better served by the momentum crowd. The recent plunge in those groups? Fodder for short-sellers. But right now, you are looking at hundreds of well-run companies with strong brand franchises, stellar balance sheets, market-leading positions -- and really cheap stock prices. To me, this feels just like 2002. There was no reason to buy stocks, except that they were cheap. If you did, you might have doubled or quadrupled your money in names such as EMC , Priceline.com...

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