Q: Where do you expect to find it? A: Gross: Despite my criticism, my picks are U.S.-oriented and speak to generating stable income in two ways. The first is through closed-end funds that, as a class, can benefit by using leverage. They can borrow 35% to 50% of the value of their assets at near-zero percentage rates, and reinvest in their asset class at 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, even 9%. This isn't a time to leverage up but a time to use mild leverage if you can benefit by being a borrower as opposed to a saver. We like Reaves Utility Income Fund [UTG]. Utilities are a stable source of income, although they have had ups and downs. Electric utilities currently yield about 5%, plus or minus. I know nothing about Reaves from a management standpoint, only that the closed-end fund has a market value of about $500 million. They did well in the past 12 to 18 months. They weren't forced to liquidate any positions. The fund yields 7.25%, compared with 4.5% to 5% on most electric utilities.

Q: Does Reaves sell at a discount to net asset value? Gross: It sells close to net asset value. My next pick is Pimco Corporate Opportunity [PTY], a closed-end fund. Don't place an order the day these comments are published. The same goes for Reaves. These are thinly traded issues, and you don't want to overpay if people bid them up. I have recommended Pimco Corporate Opportunity in the past. I have been managing the fund for six months or so, but I've been watching over the nest like a mother hen for a long time. The market cap is $1 billion, and the fund invests primarily in investment-grade corporate bonds. About 20% is in less-than-investment-grade bonds, but this isn't a junk fund. It is a high-yield fund. The typical investment is in shake-hands-with-the-government-type bonds, issued by the likes of AIG [ American International Group], Sallie Mae [SLM] and GMAC. These companies are either mildly government-sponsored or government supported. This closed-end fund has tripled in the past 12 to 15 months. Shares have gone from about 5 to 15. But here's the key: It yields close to 13%. That includes a special dividend. Dividends are determined by the board.

Witmer: My first pick is Compass Minerals [CMP], which trades at 72 a share. It has 33 million shares and debt of $500 million. Recently volatile results in potash have obscured the long-term positive trends in its salt and potash operations. Compass owns perhaps the best rock-salt mine in the world, in Ontario, next to Lake Huron. The reserves are huge, and unlike most salt mines, capacity can be increased easily due to the width of the salt seam. Compass expanded this mine from 2.5 million tons in the 1980s to seven million tons, and it is expanding it to nine million tons. Transportation is cheap and easy over the Great Lakes, to the snowbelt states. Compass also owns mines in Louisiana and the U.K, and evaporation facilities in the U.S. and Canada to produce consumer and industrial salts. These are used in food processing, water softening, chemicals and agriculture. Compass has the leading consumer-salt brand in Canada, Sifto.

Witmer: My next pick is a Dutch insurer, Delta Lloyd [DL.The Netherlands]. It trades in Amsterdam at 17 euros [$23.57] a share. It came public in November at €16, with Aviva [AV], the U.K. insurance company, selling 41% of its stake. It still owns the rest. There are 166 million shares. The company caught my attention as a potential investment when, on the roadshow, the CEO said "we will be delivering sustainable value for shareholders through a long-term focus." That means "we will make you money and pay it out in dividends." That's the kind of guy I like.

Witmer: Genworth Canada's main competitor is CMHC, a Crown [government-owned] corporation. Before the financial crisis, Genworth Canada had grown its market share to nearly 50%. Then it lost share, partly because it was owned by a U.S. parent with a low stock price. Even though the companies were separately regulated, lenders were concerned. Plus, the Canadian government guarantees 100% of CMHC's insurance policies but only 90% of Genworth's. As fear of implosion recedes, Genworth Canada is regaining market share. And, there is a chance Ottawa brings its guarantee to 100% for all players in the market. Genworth Canada could earn 2.50 Canadian dollars to C$2.80 a share in 2010, and the stock is C$26. It should trade at 10 to 11 times earnings and earn about C$3 a share in 2011. Our target is C$34 to C$37 a share. The stock yields 3.4% and the dividend may increase soon.

Witmer: Title companies can write business directly or outside agents can write the business, giving title insurers a negotiated percentage of the premium, usually 10% to 30%. Some states have mandated increases in the percentage of premium kept by the title companies. Also, state insurance commissions are putting through rate increases for title insurers because they want the companies to have increased liquidity. They want no chance of another title company going bankrupt, because the states would have to backstop the policies and their own budgets are in deficits. Stewart also has a hidden asset: tax benefits. The company said it has a $35 million refund from the extension of net-operating-loss carrybacks enacted by the Obama administration. It should have about $75 million in all, worth about $4 a share. Add that to tangible book value of $11.50 a share, and you get a true book value of $15.50. The business should earn 10% to 15% on book and have normalized earnings of $1.50 to $2 a share. At 11 a share it is a real value. Our price target is 15 to 20.

Witmer: It does. It just sold a business for €45 million. The sale pre-funds a few more years of research-and-development expense. The biotherapeutics business is spending about €18 million a year on R&D. The plasma business is a cash cow, and is worth more than the current stock price. Biotest should have after-tax free cash flow of about €4 per share. That alone could have the stock trading around €48 a share. Plus, if biotherapeutics were a standalone business with the cash, it would trade at €70 million to €100 million, adding another €6 of value per share. Add that to my €48 for the plasma business, and you get a price target of €55 a share.

Hickey: I have a couple of gold recommendations and some tech names. I'm not shorting anything because I don't want to short in an environment where the Fed is printing money, unless prices go really crazy. Gold has been up for nine years and is going higher. I still have a significant position in bullion and the gold ETF [exchange-traded fund], GLD SPDR Gold Shares], but I want to move more into gold stocks this year. They have lagged the price of gold in the past two years. The price of gold went up 30%, and the stocks fell about 7%, on average. In most gold bull markets, the stocks will outperform by at least 2-to-1. That hasn't happened this time because the companies' costs have risen as fast as the price of gold. In the third quarter of 2009, the average realized price of gold for the companies I track was $965 an ounce. Their exploration and development costs ran close to that. But this is changing, because the price of gold finally broke through $1,000 an ounce and leaped to $1,200 in 2009's fourth quarter. It is near there now, after backing off a bit. The average realized price for my companies is going to increase from $965 an ounce to more than $1,100. A $135-an-ounce increase will fall through to the bottom line. Gold stocks that have been underperforming are probably going to outperform now.