I wrote the series of the Top 25 stocks for the NEXT 25 years back in May and June, when times were better and investors more comfortable with smaller growth ideas. We are now in tougher times with the credit markets still in a state of disruption, which has caused consumer pessimism and the rest of the dominoes just fall right into line. Right now, it's all pretty negative.

But this is the type of environment when investors can make their best, strategic investments. Look back over these past 28 years; the market had many, many nervous times when it all looked so bleak. These times only proved to be opportunistic for savvy, patient and non-emotional investors. Think about the most important barometer for the markets--earnings growth. With earnings growth comes valuation growth--plain and simple.

Nervous times like this gives investors pause and many run into safe and liquid names. Understandable and certainly defensible. But the patient investor will notice that mid-cap and small-cap names tend to drift lower because of a "buyers strike." Capital flows out of these names and they become orphaned for a while. In my career, this is where I have witnessed the greatest professional investors really sharpen their pencils and begin to accumulate these orphans at extremely reasonable prices.

So rather than run and hide--look for the stocks that appealed to you 2-3 months ago. Chances are they are "on sale" now with the same strong fundamentals. The good companies always come back and trade at higher valuations...because remember, earnings growth ultimately drives stock performance..

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research and the author of " Baby Boomer Investing...Where do we go from here?"