Bargains in Wall Street's Growth-Stock Rejects

It's a tough gig, trying to find value in "growth" stocks. But that didn't hold back Michael Barish, and it isn't holding back his son Brian.

Between them, at their family firm Cambiar Investors out in Denver, they've beaten the S&P 500 in 26 of the last 34 years.

That includes the last eight years in a row -- and every year since Brian took the reins in 1999.

How does Brian explain his success?

Four words: "All value is relative."

Unlike many other fund managers, he doesn't waste much time trying to calculate an "absolute" or "intrinsic" value for growth stocks such as, say, Intel. It involves too many big guesses about the future to be meaningful.

Instead, he looks at what the market has tended to pay for the stock in the past. "What 'relative value' means is that certain businesses, certain industries, tend to be valued within a certain range," he says. He buys those stocks when they fall out of favor, betting they will, sooner or later, revert to the mean.

Hot picks: Intel, biotech company Amgen (AMGN Quote), Home Depot (HD Quote) and Archers Daniel Midland (ADM Quote).

They've all been out of favor on Wall Street recently. Barish believes that that has made them a bargain. He argues these all are terrific businesses whose profits, and shares, will in due course revert to their long-term averages.