5. Contrarian Investing

To use the vernacular of country music, you’re looking for “fallen angels”: stocks that were once popular but “ain’t loved no more.” This technique targets stocks that have disappointed investors over and over until people stop paying attention.

Contrarian investors use fresh eyes to evaluate the current landscape and move beyond the past. That’s where I often find real value. The nature of contrarian investing makes one a bit of an outcast. I sometimes feel like a pork chop in a synagogue.

Willbros Group (WG) is probably a good example. The stock sold in the upper $40s back in the summer of 2009 and four years later sells for only about 20 percent of that. Founded back in 1908, this is a Houston-based, world-wide company ...

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