Ten Questions With Franklin Templeton's Bill Lippman

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are both drowning in red ink and Bill Lippman is having a ball.

Manager: Bill Lippman

Funds: (FRBSX Quote)Franklin Balance Sheet Investment, (FRMCX Quote)Franklin MicroCap Value, (FRVLX Quote)Franklin Value, (FRDPX Quote)Franklin Rising Dividends and Franklin Large Cap Value*

Combined Assets: $2.2 billion

Sources: Franklin and Morningstar. *Funds are run by a team of managers.

Lippman, a practicing value investor for forty years, says he and his bargain-hunting colleagues are in a bull market. From their Fort Lee, N.J. offices, he and his colleagues run five funds for West Coast-based Franklin Templeton, calmly scouring the market for solid companies they think are selling for less than they're worth. Growth and tech stocks, which lorded over the market in 1998 and 1999, are in bear market territory, and Lippman says he and his colleagues are scooping up bargains left and right. ...