"If you're looking long-term, paying too much attention to what the Fed's going to do and what this next economic number is going to be can actually distract you from what's really important. And what's really important is finding the right company, the right company that can make it through any scenario."

Dionex

"Dionex Corporation is the largest manufacturer of ion chromatography equipment, which tests the impurities in liquids. They dominate that business.

"They have had positive free cash flow every year for the past 10 years. Now, free cash flow is the cash flow that's left after they've invested in their business, so they do not need to borrow money -- as a matter of fact, they're debt-free. So it's a debt-free company that's generating cash every year, year in, year out."

IMS Health

"IMS Health only goes back seven years as independent company, because it was part of Dun & Bradstreet prior to that. But it's had seven consecutive years of positive free cash flow.

"Both IMS and Dionex have competitors, they do not have a pure monopoly. But in both cases, they have about 70 percent to 75 percent market share. So there are competitors, but we're not worried about that."

Pall

"Pall is the leader in filtration. The great thing about filtration is filters have to be replaced, so 75 percent of their sales come from replacement filters, and that's a more stable source of demand.

"This is another example of a company with very solid cash flow. Every year for the past 10 years, positive, free cash flow.

"They recently made an acquisition, and we think it's a good acquisition. It fills out their product line very nicely. But the important thing is the cash flow is there to service that debt."

"Now is a terrific time to be looking for values because they are aplenty in the market. We lost so much in terms of market cap in July, when over $2 trillion was lost in the market. That's more than the overall market was worth in 1987. So now is a time for prudent, long-term investors like to be looking for values and buying them.

"Now that investors have really been hurt, as have companies, dividends will become more and more important. If you go back 50 years, the usual ratio between the t-bill yield and the dividend yield is 2 to 1. Right now it's less than 1 to 1. So I believe that dividends are on the rise."

Mercantile Bankshares

"Mercantile Bankshares has paid a consistent dividend for as long as I can remember. They've raised that dividend every year for the past 26 years.

"The stock is down about five points from its 52-week high, but it pays a very attractive dividend of 3 percent, which is triple what investors are getting in the money market."

Smithfield Foods

"Smithfield is in the hog and pork products business. Right now pork prices are really, really low, so as a contrarian, I'm interested when that happens. The stock has fallen from $27 down to $17.75 or so. It has a price/earnings ratio of only 11 times next year's earnings.

"Hog prices, like so many things, are cyclical. With the relative cyclicality of commodities pricings, for long-term investors, now might be an interesting time to buy it."

"Just great management, solid management. They were early out of the gate in expensing their stock options, a very conservative company."