Do you remember the Seinfeld episode where Kramer (accidentally) punched his idol, Mickey Mantle? I don't mean to knock on Warren Buffett but it seems he's lost his touch as of recent. 'As of recent' is the key as his long term record makes him the (or one of the) most successful and common sense driven investors ever to set foot on Wall Street.

Through his career Buffett survived and thrived through three declines of 40 to 50% (1973-1974, 1987, 2000-2002). Naturally to him a 40% decline may be the benchmark for a buying opportunity.

Warren Buffett is held in high esteem for his financial wisdom, massive wealth, philanthropic endeavors and stewardship of one of the world's most profitable companies. So how has the Oracle of Omaha's portfolio done so far this year?  Not so hot.

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Value investors deny that the market is efficient. In their view, stock prices are subject to irrational waves of optimism and pessimism. That’s mostly true. But just sometimes, the market’s mood isn’t too far off. A value trap appears when a falling share price correctly anticipates a company’s deteriorating fundamentals. Over the last year, some of America’s best investors have been misled by apparently cheap prices into buying financial stocks. The worst may not be over.

For those of you that are not familiar with Mohnish Pabrai, he is a devout disciple on the teachings by Warren Buffett and Ben Graham. Mohnish runs a fund identical to Warren Buffett's original Buffett Partnership which was the predecessor of Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA,BRKB). Pabrai wrote a book about a year ago titled the Dhando Investor. The word Dhando which is pronounced dhun-doe is a Gujarati(a state in India) word. Dhan comes from the Sanskrit root word Dhana meaning wealth. Dhan-dho, literally translated, means "endeavors to create wealth".

Retail investors love cheap stocks. And "cheap" doesn't necessarily mean undervalued stocks, or stocks selling for low p/e's, or discounts to cash or net asset value. Many retail investors like low priced stocks simply because they can get more bang for their buck. Not all penny stocks are fraught with risk.

Here are eight big company stocks with micro-cap prices.

For one brief, shining moment last week, Tom Forester ran the only stock mutual fund with a positive return for the year. It's best not to judge fund managers on short-term results, but in this harrowing market climate, anyone who can even approach breakeven is probably worth a closer look.

Forester's eponymous Forester Value Fund  (FVALX) lost 2.9% this year as of Nov. 6, according to fund-tracker Lipper Inc. By comparison, its average large-cap value rival slumped 38.1%.

Bruce Berkowitz of Fairholme Capital Management discusses what's next for the markets.

Watch the video.

Legg Mason strategist Mauboussin believes this will prove to be a good time—and maybe even a great time—to invest for people with time horizons beyond a year or two. While there’s no way to know where the market will be in the short term, many conditions are in place for better performance. More directly, he believes the market at these levels represents substantial value for long-term investors...

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Warren Buffett is the world famous stock market guru. Recently, he bought stakes of General Electric Co (GE) and Goldman Sachs Group. General Electric Co (GE) is a technology and services giant company which is listed in Dow Jones board; whereas, Goldman Sachs Group (GS) is a financial heavyweight company, which is listed in New York Security Exchange (NYSE). Through his famous investment company; Bershire Hathaway, Buffett invested US$8bil in these two companies. His action startled many people in stock market.