1. Western companies are casting covetous eyes on the bargain-priced companies of eastern Europe.

2. Paulson has been snapping up bargain-priced debt of Lehman and is now one of its biggest creditors.

3. Investing in bargain-priced securities provides a "margin of safety"—room for error, imprecision, bad luck, or the vicissitudes of the economy and stock market.

4. Nevertheless, 25 years of historically strong stock market performance have left the market far from bargain-priced.

5. They are often overlooked by investors seeking fast profits, but not by value investors looking for bargain-priced stocks with a low price-to-earnings ratio.