Today's header is more provocative, and of course has the companies everyone wants to talk about. What makes me ponder this obvious dilemma is that I think investors are missing real opportunities by focusing on "brand names." Often the opportunities lay in more obscure places.

The Williams Company is by no means an obscure company, but it is not a household name in most of the country, and certainly not to foreign investors like the aforementioned. I think WMB will outperform these four companies over the next year. I think it is the best value for the money and poses the least risk.

The following indicates the stock prices at the close on April 24, 2009 and the percentage each lost from its 52-week high point.

• Apple(AAPL): $123.90, 35.5% off its high of $192.24
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B): 2910, 38% off its high of $4700
• Google (GOOG): $389.49, 35.3% off its high of $602.45
• Microsoft (MSFT): $20.91, 34.9% off its high of 32.10
• Williams Companies (WMB): $13.77, 66.2% off its high of $40.75

The star companies are down in close proximity to the overall stock market and chances are they will rise with it too. Williams is down in line with the price of natural gas, about 65%. What investors are missing is that a good portion of WMB earnings come from delivering gas through it's pipelines and it charges by the quantity, not the price of gas. If gas prices go back up WMB will do well, but it still has strong regular cash flow.

Natural gas prices relative to oil prices are currently a bargain, and even though oil has dropped significantly, the price gap is large. According to the Energy Information Administration, April 15 natural gas spot prices fell at most market locations in the lower 48 states, trading at, or below, $4 per million Btu (MMBtu) at all market locations. By comparison, the spot price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil ended the week down by $1.85 per barrel at $47.41, which is equivalent to $8.17 on an MMBtu basis. It would seem to me that either gas is going up or oil is coming down, but a 2:1 variance is not going to maintain.

Another attribute that makes me prefer Williams as an investment is the dividend. Market prognosticators are all over the map with their rationals for various possibilities for market growth over the next few years. Regardless of who is right, dividends give you a head start. Even "my pal Warren" does not invest in companies that do not pay up quarterly.

• Williams Companies (WMB): 3.15%
• Microsoft (MSFT): 2.71%
• Apple (AAPL): 0%
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B): 0%
• Google (GOOG): 0%

In addition to dividends, another aspect of value investing is book value. This is something that can be elusive for companies that are acquirers of other companies because of good will and other loose ends, but if you can buy into a company for less than its break-up value, you have a very good measure of safety.

The following figures indicate the price-to-book value from AOL Money and Finance for each of the five stocks.

• Williams Companies (WMB): 0.99
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B): 1.7
• Apple (AAPL): 3.92
• Google (GOOG): 3.43
• Microsoft (MSFT): 4.42

Clearly WMB is far less risky in a volatile investing climate. While one could argue that tech stocks are likely to have higher price-to-book ratios because of the difficulty in valuations for soft assets and intangibles, it also highlights why Warren Buffett might shy away from them. Williams is exactly the type of company that Buffett would consider buying.

This is the first in a five part series that will be posted each day this week.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of BRK.B and WMB shares and options.