The price-to-cash flow ratio has been repeatedly promoted in various publications as one of the more important metrics to consider when evaluating a stock to buy. Apparently over long periods of time it is more telling than the often quoted price-to-earnings ratio. I have read that cash flow is a key metric that "my pal Warren" looks at for Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) investments.

Here are the figures for the Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008 in order from highest to lowest P/CF. The 12/28/08 starting stock price, yesterday's closing price and the current P/CF for the most recent fiscal year (MRFY) are listed. Only two stocks are up, while six are down.

Some companies seem to always be just outside my grasp. They sit on my watch-list for long periods and often never present an opportunity to acquire the stock. Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE), which closed at $42.93 on December 28, 2007, fits the bill. I almost included it in my Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008, but alas, I decided I felt more confident in stocks like Loews Corp. (NYSE: LTR), which was the last stock added.

I asked one of the advertising company officers in town how important Adobe software was to their business and he replied, "They could not function without it, they would be out of business." I'm sure he was exaggerating, but only a little.

Adobe is not a monopoly because you can work around it with less robust programs, but no company offers the integrated suite of graphics products that Adobe does, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat and if you're online much, you must receive multiple PDF files per day.

This was one of my last to make the list of 8 for 2008, and did not show up in previous stories, but investors should take note. Everything we read and hear about the investment climate in 2008 makes one rather tepid about the stock market. One of my friends even suggested to me a few days ago that he was considering going to all cash. That is a bad idea. A better idea is to find investments that will do well in this environment. Loews Corp. (NYSE: LTR) might very well be that company. The stock closed on December 28, 2007, at $49.35.

In a recent news release, Loews announced a plan to spin-off Lorillard. By mid-summer LTR should be separated from this tobacco company and maker of the Newport brand of cigarettes. This will free up some cash for stock buybacks, according to the article, and also from some liability. This might be good news to many but is not the reason I like Loews so much.

The real reason is that in searching out investment opportunities I took an interest in Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO) as a major player in the search for oil offshore. Well it turns out that Loews is a major shareholder. When I was reviewing insurance companies, which were way down in 2007, and I think oversold now, I came across CNA Financial (NYSE: CNA), which has fallen on hard times and may be a comeback story. Then I learn that Loews owns a major stake in CNA too.