Prognosticators the world over are throwing in their 2 cents about "my pal Warren's" next market moves; especially since he announced last week that his trigger finger was itchy. When Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A and BRK.B) speaks, investors listen.

On Wednesday March 2, this investor threw in his two cents worth (see:Serious Money: What Should Warren Buffett Do Next?) discussing possible acquisitions. Since all the "pro's", I use the term loosely, have had a say I thought I would give readers a chance to express some of their ideas too.

Last Friday Warren Buffett said he was anxious to pull the trigger on another large deal -- having only recently completed the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A and BRK.B) acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. Since then, prognosticators far and wide have been making suggestions about his next possible moves.

Considering I wrote about the railroads the day before the BNSF announcement, I thought I would share a few ideas, old and new.

The Tulip mania in Holland went on for seven years, supporting John Maynard Keynes commentary that "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." This is one of my favorite stock market quotes, so forgive me if I repeat it too often. Although, I'm not sure that is possible when I watch Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) stock price continue to soar.

The stock was up almost 5% yesterday, on a down day, closing at $187.88, with a P/E of 70.90 -- that's 71 years times earnings folks!

Is that sensible? Investors are saying who cares? And the analysts are supporting them. The fact that analysts have a horrible track record and that the stock is highly speculative has become irrelevant.

Forgive me if I stray slightly, but I could not help thinking about how ironic it would be if someone leaked information as to the whereabouts of Wikileaks founder and "fearless leader" Julian Assange -- who is in hiding!

It would be even more ironic if a CIA operative who had his cover blown by Wikileaks decides what goes around comes around. Let's face it, in its own way Wikileaks has become a rogue nation, so why wouldn't the CIA get involved?

In the mean time, this has probably helped world markets as it has overtaken everything else as the big story of the past 48 hours. In a bizarre way, Assange may have achieved one of his goals by bringing the world closer together, sort of.

Perusing through the 13D filings in Barron's November 29 issue I came across news reported by InsiderScore.com regarding American International Group, Inc. (AIG). It was noted that "Fairholme Capital raised its holdings to 39,990,099 shares (29%), by buying 1,765,900 shares from Nov. 5 to Nov. 16 at prices ranging from $41.72 to $43.59."

I do not usually make mention of such things but owning 29% of a company capitalized at $5.6 billion dollars is a lot. I would even go as far as to say that in some circumstances that might equate to controlling interest. Prior to "my pal Warren" (Buffett) making an offer to acquire the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) it only owned 23% of the outstanding shares.

In case you need to be reminded to look closely at the books, today's poster boy for erroneous ledgers, Bernie Maddoff, should be a constant reminder. Furthermore, when you are looking at the books, remember that Benjamin Graham, mentor to "my pal Warren," advised buying stocks for less than their intrinsic value. And book value is the starting point in attempting to establish that.

Two weeks ago, I posted an update on my toxic stock picks. These were six unloved stocks where I felt the stage was set for market beating returns. The same is true again for today's market-beating group, although it is not the headlines that tied this group together, but their standout bargain metrics.

Today we expand on investment criteria and start to look at actual stocks of non US companies that might be in the running for inclusion as one of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A/BRK.B) foreign holdings.

In searching for global investment prospects that might interest Warren Buffett we have established that newly allocated capital would most likely pursue companies that pay a dividend and make products or operate in sectors that are well established and have a high level of certainty to exist decades into the future. This is basic to "my pal Warren's" investment philosophy, and there is no reason to think this will change.

In Part 2 of this series we then examined the size of a potential investment settling on a general range from $4 billion to $24 billion.

There are many places that Warren Buffett may choose to invest Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A / BRK.B) capital. At the same time you can be sure there are places he will not set foot. It is not likely he will invest anywhere that does not have a vibrant, well-established stock market with a stable government. So, Mr. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela will not likely see any capital deployed from the likes of "my pal Warren" any time soon.

As a matter of fact, I would put the chances at slim of any South American country, besides Brazil, getting a look at all. Brazil is just too big and too vibrant to ignore. I would rule out Africa entirely except for indirect investments in oil and minerals through large conglomerates. The closest thing in the region would be Israel, at the furthest western reaches of Asia. He has already invested there and there is a high probability he would again. Investors from most of Europe and Asia have done the same, although many would rather not discuss it.

He has also invested in China, Great Britain, South Korea, and Switzerland. I would expect more money to be plowed into all of them again without reservation if the right deal materialized.

Trying to figure out what Warren Buffett will invest in next is no small task. Although, you can bet it will not be small. In fact, he may try to acquire whole companies because anything else might not move the needle when it comes to increasing shareholder value at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A / BRK.B).

This post is a follow up to Serious Money: Buffett Looking Beyond Our Borders, where I concluded that Buffett will seek an opportunity to invest in a company that is paying a dividend and has a very easy to understand product or service that will not become obsolete any time soon.

Stories are starting to appear that "my pal Warren" is gearing up for a major foreign acquisition. One of my dear friends Randy S. is taking a post graduate business class at UCLA where this issue is a part of the course. He is supposed to figure out what non US companies Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A/BRK.B), led by Warren Buffett, might be considering for investment.

Ahh yes, the prediction business, quite tricky indeed. Starting with some basics, in most cases I would stick to the time tested philosophy that past performance is not an indicator of future success. That said, I think in the case of Buffett, it does. There are many clues along the trail based on his past performance.

Here are some basic consistencies from the existing portfolio that I would expect to hold true going forward.

Stocks have fallen over the past month and certain stocks have fallen considerably. If you have lost equity recently and can find similarly positioned stocks, it may be wise to consider some lateral moves. Selling one stock and buying something comparable allows you to claim a loss while still remaining fully invested.

In this way you do not have to observe the 30-day rule where you cannot claim a loss in a stock sold today if you buy it back until after 30 days have past. In 30 days the market opportunity to repurchase the shares of the company you sold at good price may have also past.

We can make this short and sweet: buying utilities pays off in many ways that other investments do not. Utilities pay regular dividend distributions that are higher than most stocks, bonds, Treasuries, and certificates of deposit. In these volatile times, utility stocks add stability to your portfolio and moderate the wild swings. And, here is the kicker that everyone but day traders will appreciate: long term returns beat all of the major indices over time.

The following charts and stocks will further make the case.

The twelve super caps are down to seven: Proctor & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, China Mobile, PetroChina, Microsoft and ExxonMobil. Five are American companies and two are Chinese. The five U.S.-based enterprises have historically strong management teams and balance sheets. If this was the only criteria, I might take pause when considering the two Chinese companies only because I do not know enough about them to make a judgment, except that they have been very successful.

"My pal Warren" placed a large bet on PetroChina (PTR), which he has since sold off, but he always makes a big deal about management, so we will give these two the benefit of the doubt. The two also pay the highest yields among the group.

So where do we stand today? We'll stick with all seven and here is why.

The market continues to be very volatile and trending down. When the seas are this turbulent you want to be on the biggest ships and thus I continue my review of the super cap stocks. This time, I'm going to examine return-on-equity (ROE) and return on-invested-capital (ROIC).

I started with the 12 highest valued companies but remained with 10 after running them through several screens. Among those 10 super, caps the company that is producing the highest returns is Microsoft (MSFT).

It's a cliché but it rings so true: just show me the money! In the case of stocks that's profits and distributions, or dividends.

The super cap review, in which I examine large cap stocks through different valuation methods, started with the 12 stocks with the highest capitalization and through several stock screens has been trimmed to just 10 stocks.

It has been widely reported that dividends contribute as much as 40% of the market stock appreciation on long term holdings. All things being equal, a diversified basket of dividend paying stocks should outperform a similarly diversified portfolio that does not.