Q: When you talk about gold, should people be thinking in terms of the mining companies or bullion? A: Both. The metal has outperformed the mining companies in the last three years, but that relationship is in the process of switching and mining companies will be the best investment. But they will both be good investments. There are two ETFs that are convenient for a lot of people: streetTracks Gold Trust [ticker: GLD] tracks the gold and Market Vector Gold Miners [GDX] tracks the mining companies.

Q: When you talk about gold, should people be thinking in terms of the mining companies or bullion? A: Both. The metal has outperformed the mining companies in the last three years, but that relationship is in the process of switching and mining companies will be the best investment. But they will both be good investments. There are two ETFs that are convenient for a lot of people: streetTracks Gold Trust [ticker: GLD] tracks the gold and Market Vector Gold Miners [GDX] tracks the mining companies.

Q: Can you be more specific? A: The biotech companies have the new products and are a way to participate in this industry. They are like buying the drug companies back in 1960. My three favorites are Genentech [DNA] and Gilead Sciences [GILD] and Celgene [CELG]. They all have very good products and great growth rates, and no risk, from my point of view, to an economic slowdown and a falling dollar.

Q: Can you be more specific? A: The biotech companies have the new products and are a way to participate in this industry. They are like buying the drug companies back in 1960. My three favorites are Genentech [DNA] and Gilead Sciences [GILD] and Celgene [CELG]. They all have very good products and great growth rates, and no risk, from my point of view, to an economic slowdown and a falling dollar.

Q: Can you be more specific? A: The biotech companies have the new products and are a way to participate in this industry. They are like buying the drug companies back in 1960. My three favorites are Genentech [DNA] and Gilead Sciences [GILD] and Celgene [CELG]. They all have very good products and great growth rates, and no risk, from my point of view, to an economic slowdown and a falling dollar.

Q: How about a new recommendation in that area? A: BioMarin Pharmaceuticals [BMRN] has some nice products. It is coming along with some very nice drugs to treat small patient populations, similar to Genzyme [GENZ], where there is not much competition and the drug has a limited market but is necessary for survival.

Q: What do you like among medical-device and instrument companies? A: I love Intuitive Surgical [ISRG], the leader in robotic surgery. It went up a lot, from about 105 to 350, before falling back to 254, and so it has corrected. But it has the absolute leadership position in the field and is continuing to grow very rapidly. If you have breast cancer or prostate cancer or are having a hysterectomy, you unequivocally want to go where they are using Intuitive Surgical robotic surgery because the results are much better. That's a good growth area. The stock is still kind of rich, even though it has corrected, but it has a lot of growth ahead of it.

Q: Let's turn to some emerging companies that have caught your interest. A: A company called Aladdin Knowledge Systems [ALDN] has been overlooked by a lot of people. It is an Israeli company that develops enterprise-network security software used for application access. This company has been growing earnings at 20%-plus lately. Last year, earnings rose from 93 cents a share to $1.15, and this year they are probably going to go to $1.40 a share. They had a very good quarter recently, up over 21%. It's not too expensive, selling at 20 and earning, say, $1.40 a share this year and $1.60 next year.