Seven To Ten

What is Warren Buffett thinking about Europe? The billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway chief will visit the Continent next month to scout out possible acquisitions of family-owned companies.

Angelo Moratti of Italian oil refiner Saras and Eitan Wertheimer of Israeli metalworker Iscar - a company Berkshire purchased in 2006 in its first overseas buyout - are arranging the trip, which comes as Buffet decides what to do with $40 billion in cash on Berkshire’s balance sheet.

Buffett said in Berkshire’s 2007 annual report that big acquisitions are necessary to keep returns up to par. “Though our managers may be the best,” he wrote, “we will need large and sensible acquisitions to get the growth in operating earnings we wish.”

Buffett has shown he prefers to buy into companies in which the owners are fully involved in operating the business, a preference that will no doubt help determine his itinerary next month.

In recent years, a pseudoscience has emerged around the theory that left-partedness signals leadership potential, while parting on the right suggests a little something off-kilter. Among CEOs of the 50 largest companies in the Fortune 500, only three part their hair on the right. Here’s a sampling of top execs and their ‘dos.

1. Warren Buffet

America’s richest man and chief of the 500’s 11th-largest company comes across as the classic left-brainer: rational and assertive.

2. Jamie Dimon, J.P. Morgan

Banking’s alpha dog swooped in and got Bear Stearns for the fire-sale price of $10 a share. Was it moxie - or the left part?

3. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo

As CEO of the $39 billion consumer giant, the leftie ranks No. 1 on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list.

Recently, Warren Buffett invited a group of business students for an intensive day of learning.

One of the tips he stressed is that investors should not think that what they read today is important in terms of their investment strategy. Investors should realize that:

1. If you knew what was going to happen in the economy, you still wouldn’t necessarily know what was going to happen in the stock market.

2. they can’t pick stocks that are better than average.

Stocks are a good thing to own over time. There’s only two things you can do wrong: You can buy the wrong ones, and you can buy or sell them at the wrong time. And the truth is you never need to sell them, basically.

Buying a cross section of American industry is a good idea. If the cross section doesn’t work, picking the little beauties here and there isn’t going to work either. Then they just have to worry about getting greedy.

If you really want to invest, get greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. Of course, you shouldn’t get greedy when others get greedy and fearful when others get fearful. At a minimum, try to stay away from that.