What a surprise: Mr. Market is all gaga over energy stocks. The Big Oil club is looking mighty swank these days, what with oil trading above $70 a barrel. To be sure, some members of the club still seem to sport reasonable multiples -- ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of roughly 11 anyone? Nonetheless, I think smart investors should be following what appears to be the dumb money these days.

When the sun shines on one pocket of the market, other areas get left in the dark. That provides savvy investors a choice opportunity to buy tomorrow's winners while they're trading at a discount.

Danger, Will Robinson
Make no mistake: The contrarian route can be fraught with peril.

Slumps can be hard to shake, and sometimes stocks that look like stone-cold bargains just keep getting cheaper for reasons that are hard to fathom.

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is one compelling case in point. Here's a company that generated in excess of $4 billion in free cash flow (FCF) during its last fiscal year and yet shed nearly 29% of its value in 2005. And so far in 2006, the Texas-based computer maker is posting another double-digit loss.

Ouch.

Meanwhile, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) strikes a similar profile. Having snagged some $9 billion in FCF last year, this semiconductor kingpin now trades with a P/E that's less than half its industry's average and a stock price that's more than 30% below its 52-week high. Even the mighty Apple Computer (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- which put up triple-digit gains in both 2004 and 2005 -- has tapped on the breaks, shedding approximately 3% this year while the S&P has tacked on a little more than 5%.

For my money
Given that Mr. Market moves in mysterious ways, I think the best way to be a contrarian investor is via diversified mutual funds that traffic in out-of-favor fare. As it happens, we've uncovered a clutch of picks that fit that description at Motley Fool Champion Funds, the newsletter service that I head up.

One such Champ (as we like to call 'em) has all but taken a pass on energy stocks, favoring the discounted likes of Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM), McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) instead.

Has the fund suffered a short-term setback for its managers' cheapskate ways? Sure -- at least on a relative basis. For the three years that ended with March, its annualized return of "just" 14.36% lags the S&P by nearly three percentage points.

But you know what? That recent performance history makes me like the fund's forward-looking prospects all the more. Its management team, after all, has notched a long-term record of market-beating success by zigging when others zag -- which is precisely what appears to be going on right now.

All shall be revealed
If you'd like to learn more about this fund and why I think it's likely to outperform the market in the years ahead, just click here for a free 30-day guest pass to Champion Funds. Your pass provides access to our archives, members-only discussion boards, and complete list of recommended funds -- a group, by the way, that's beating the market by 13 percentage points as I type.

Champion Funds also provides model portfolios -- asset-allocation starter kits that help you cherry-pick funds and put 'em together in a pie chart that's tailor-made for your risk tolerance and investment timeline.

Interested? Good deal. Your guest pass is just a mouse-click away.

Shannon Zimmerman runs point on the Fool's Champion Funds newsletter service, and at the time of publication didn't own any of the securities mentioned above. Intel is a Motley Fool Inside Value pick, and Dell is an Inside Value and Stock Advisor pick. You can check out the Fool's strict disclosure policy by clicking righthere.