While more attractive international valuations and predictions of a falling U.S. dollar were central themes of the Financial Advisor Symposium panel discussion, so was international asset allocation for investors. Martini says Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.'s private client business routinely recommends international equity allocations of 20% to 30%. "Given the fact that at least 45% of the global stock market's opportunities, at least in terms of capitalization, lies outside the U.S, we feel that's a pretty conservative allocation recommendation," the economist says.

Raymond Mills, another panelist and the manager of the T. Rowe Price International Growth and Income Fund, agrees that some investors can benefit from adding a range of styles, including growth, value, emerging markets and small cap to their international portfolios. Mills' fund had a one-year return of almost 40% as of October 6.

Mills says he's not so worried about the direction of the markets overall, but instead works to figure out which sectors and companies are likely to outperform. Recent homeruns include Hugo Boss, which turned in a tidy 141% return for the fund in the past year or so. "They were beaten down with the rest of the German market and had some problems in their U.S. operations, but we believed they were addressing them. With a P/E of less than 10, it looked to us like they would have low-to-middle double-digit growth for the next few years, so we swooped in and bought," Mills says.

Australia's MacQuarie Bank was another find for the T. Rowe Price fund, producing 50% returns in more than a year. Punished with the rest of capital-market-sensitive stocks, Mills believed that with its high-quality approach to lending the bank would benefit from the strong Australian economy, and it has.

While steering clear of many Japanese stocks, Mills does like Toyota. "They are one of the more profitable companies in the country, and they continue to take market share in Europe and the U.S. To a large extent, the company is also immunizing its revenues against swings in the yen by putting more production in the U.S."

Mills also gives the thumbs up to French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synphelablo, which he says has more than 50 compounds in clinical trials but, despite its size and growth potential, is reasonably valued. On the energy front, he is buying oil company Total in France, which he maintains has mostly younger fields and a good production profile, but better profitability and earnings growth than its competitors.

Stefan Bottcher, another panelist at the Financial Advisor Symposium and co-manager of the U.S. Global Investors Eastern European Fund, just returned from a trip to Russia and China and says opportunities in those countries abound. The fund, which is advised by Charlemagne Capital Ltd., a London-based management company where Bottcher is director of portfolio investments, handed in a blistering 52% year-to-date return as of October 6 and had a five-year average annual return of nearly 26%. The fund focuses on Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, looking for the two dozen or so best stocks the region has to offer, says Bottcher's co-manager Julian Mayo.

Russia is a favorite of the two managers because of its relative stability and demonstrable economic growth under President Vladimir Putin. Gross domestic product is growing at 7.2% a year, the government has slashed its debt-to-GDP ratio by more than 65% and the influx of foreign capital is also accelerating nicely. BP PLC of Britain has led the way with a $7.7 billion investment. The country has also been stockpiling foreign currency reserves of around $65 billion.

In a historic move that comes just five years after Russia's default on its domestic debt and is being lauded by investment managers familiar with the country, Moody's upgraded Russia's debt to investment grade in October from a speculative rating. "We think this rating change will have a very beneficial impact on companies and the economy and reflects the strength of the things really happening," Mayo says. The news is also likely to help Putin advance his goal of doubling the country's GDP in the next decade, provided he wins the next presidential election.

For their part, Mayo and Bottcher believe that the Russian stock market can double in the next five years, and they plan to be there, as they have been to date, to take full advantage. One of the fund's core holdings, Sberbank of Russia, has already doubled in value and stands poisedto do it again, Mayo believes. "Even with nearly 80% of market share in the country, it still has no where to go but up because of low corporate and personal loan ratios," Mayo says. He believes that as the economy continues to boom and interest rates remain relatively low, borrowing should accelerate tremendously.