(FORTUNE Magazine) – CONGRATULATIONS, slugger, you hit a home run. Those 1,000 shares of Compusoar you bought two years ago went right over the wall. Now you've cashed out and are sitting on a cool $100,000, ready to step up to the plate again. The key question: what to do with that big chunk of change. To help you out of this not unpleasant dilemma, Fortune enlisted four of the top stock pickers on Wall Street. Their mission is to tell you the best place to invest $100,000 so that you maximize your return between now and the year 2000. Happily for those of us who aren't power hitters, their advice makes sense for smaller amounts as well.

MARIO GABELLI Chairman, Gabelli Funds Staring down from the walls of Gabelli's spartan New York City offices are faces from investing's pantheon: black and white photographs of Benjamin Graham, David Dodd, Warren Buffett, and Roger Murray, the Columbia University professor who taught Gabelli. ''They're my heroes. No one analyzes companies and securities better,'' he says. Gabelli, 51, has made millions betting on media and communications companies; his Gabelli Asset fund has outperformed the market since its inception seven years ago. I'd take the $100,000 and put 75% in U.S. equities, 10% in overseas stocks, and 15% in convertibles to give you current income. I don't think there is much return left in bonds. With inflation at a ten-year low and earnings growing this year and in 1994, we have a nice backdrop for owning stocks. My objective is to earn 10% above inflation, which is now about 3% or so. My investing themes are simple. In the U.S., I like a mix of small, medium, and large industrial companies with superior earnings growth. If you made a triangle in America's heartland from Buffalo to Denver to Mobile, Alabama, that's where you would find many of our stocks. It's actually a vibrant part of the country. These companies have cut costs, and quality is up. SPS Technologies of Newtown, Pennsylvania, which used to be Standard Press Steel, is a dominant company in the nuts and bolts business. The stock sells for $27 a share -- which is below book value -- and I think it could earn $5 a share in a few years. A company I've liked for years is Idex of Northbrook, Illinois, which makes + pumps and valves. Three years ago the stock was selling for $15. Today it sells for $32, but it is still moving up. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts owns 31% of the outstanding shares. The low dollar relative to the yen is helping Deere and Caterpillar, which make construction and farm equipment. Japanese companies are shifting their emphasis from market share to profits. That means a company like Komatsu will raise prices, which is great for Cat and Deere. The stocks sell for more than the market, based on 1994 earnings, but we think they'll make us a lot of money over the next five years. We also like Navistar International, the old International Harvester. It makes Class Eight trucks, which are the cabs on 18-wheelers. Navistar has about 50 million shares outstanding, selling for $20 a share. The company produces a lot of school buses, a market that has been depressed because of a lack of money in school budgets. We think demand will come back strongly now that America is turning its attention to education. General Motors is coming back too. For instance, it has reengineered Cadillac -- I just bought a Seville -- and now the quality is good, and so is the price. CEO Jack Smith is like a breath of fresh air. GM should earn about $1.50 this year and $4.50 next year, giving it a multiple of 10, vs. 14 for the market based on 1994 earnings. Media stocks and communications stocks have always been among our favorites. I want companies that own copyrights and creativity, companies that serve couch potatoes around the globe. Let's start with Media General, a stock with a terrific cash flow. It publishes newspapers in Richmond, Winston-Salem, and Tampa; has TV stations in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Charleston; and has cable subscribers in northern Virginia. These are all growth markets. The stock sells for $24 a share; we think it's worth up to $80. Our biggest holding for a while has been Paramount, which has done especially well for us since its recent merger battle began. Another media stock is Harcourt General, which used to be General Cinema. It owns publisher Harcourt Brace and has a controlling stake in Neiman Marcus. The company just announced it is spinning off its chain of movie theaters. This stock has had a nice run this year, up to $43 a share, and we think it could hit the mid-70s within three years. Overseas, Cable & Wireless is becoming a global telecommunications giant. It owns over 50% of Hong Kong Telecom and 80% of Mercury Communications, Britain's No. 2 phone company after British Telecom. Polygram, the Dutch record company, is expanding nicely. It recently announced it is buying Motown, which has a trove of vintage soul music. And we like Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns the Fox TV and movie businesses, newspapers, and magazines. It just bought a big piece of STAR Television, a huge Asian satellite TV service. News Corp. ADRs have gone from $12 a share to $50 since 1991, but we still like it. By the way, Cable & Wireless has ADRs too. Consumer cyclicals, companies that sell to consumers and are sensitive to swings in the economy, are not an area where we usually tread, but we have spotted a few interesting ones lately. Hilton Hotels is preeminently positioned to take advantage of the growth in international gaming, which I think will be a great business as worldwide consumer spending recovers. Hilton has interests or is pursuing deals in Greece, Canada, Uruguay, and Australia. American Express also looks good. In the 1980s it went off on tangents such as private banking, but now it's getting back to basics: cards, travel services, and IDS Financial Services, a money manager. It still has a great franchise and a wonderful brand name. The play here is that consumer travel will accelerate as consumer spending picks up. The stock is a bargain at $34 a share; over the next several years it should hit $45. For convertibles, take a look at Chock Full O'Nuts 7%s due in 2012 or the 8%s due in 2006. I like this coffee company. For a long time it was poorly managed, but now new management has gotten rid of some lagging businesses and is focusing on coffee.

G. KENNETH HEEBNER General Partner, Capital Growth Management Though he has a blue-chip education -- Amherst BA, Harvard MBA -- Ken Heebner, 53, says he relies mostly on street smarts during market trading hours. Some investors think he must use a little magic too. Over the past decade his mutual funds have racked up some of the best numbers in the business. Two of his top-performing funds are closed to new investors, but the $450 million CGM Mutual fund has beaten the S&P 500 by 57 percentage points since 1983. Here are his plans for a fresh $100,000 portfolio. I would put $40,000 in municipal bonds and $60,000 in U.S. stocks -- munis because I think the Democrats are going to raise taxes substantially. Here in Massachusetts munis yield, say, 5.4%. That's not a bad after-tax yield, and I ^ think it will look even more handsome if taxes go up. Munis are yielding more than 85% of comparable Treasuries, which is a small spread historically. So I think they are undervalued. I'm kind of neutral on the stock market. I think stocks selling for 18 times 1993 earnings are expensive, but at the same time I'm very bullish on America. Inflation is low, and we have ample capacity, so the economy can grow for several years at a moderate pace without inflation. The strength of the economy is in basic industry, which is where we are the leanest and meanest. The dollar is low, and the recession has made companies competitive. We are again the leader in many industries. So the opportunities are in well-positioned cyclical companies. It's so important to look into the future when you invest. It seems obvious, but many people look to the past. When revenues grow over the next several years, we'll see the highest profit margins in a decade because companies have lowered costs aggressively. I also think we'll see record earnings in 1995 and 1996. In picking stocks, I look for major positive trends in big companies. I try not to be the first guy to spot a trend; I prefer one that's already under way. That way I know that I won't be the only one to recognize it, and that others will buy the stock. Some stocks I buy have already doubled off their bottom before I get in, but I look for those that will go around the clock five times or more, not double. Chrysler is a great example. It has become a leader in light trucks and some cars, and we think demand will continue to surge. The stock has actually quadrupled since 1991, but we still think it has a ways to go. It sells for $45 a share, or ten times estimated 1993 earnings. In 1995 and 1996 we see earnings of more than $8 a share. You can see there is room to grow. The U.S. automakers are all benefiting from quality improvements and from the Japanese need to raise prices because of a rising yen. Ford makes out because it has a very well-received product line, and its margins are rising. If it can get back to the margins it had in 1988 by increasing sales and lowering rebates, at this level of revenues the company's earnings would exceed $10 a share. When Europe turns around, we think Ford could earn more than $13 a share, so at $50 a share, the stock is very cheap. Everybody knows that airlines have had massive losses over the past five years. But we're going to see record profit margins within the next few years because I see traffic and revenues rising, and I don't think costs will climb. If UAL had its 1988 profit margins today, it would earn $45 a share, compared with its actual breakeven this year. The stock has climbed from $106 to $150, but it's only begun its move. Caterpillar is doing well because it has increased its production efficiency and because its Japanese competitor Komatsu is raising prices. I think Cat will earn $10 a share in 1995, up from a $1.88 loss in 1992; the stock sells for $80 today. A bank worth mentioning is Chemical Banking. It isn't well regarded in the investment community right now because it has been saddled with bad loans. But its merger with Manufacturers Hanover is really going to pay off over the next few years. The company is now strong in lending to medium-size companies, which don't have access to the commercial paper market. So when business picks up in this middle market, the companies will have nowhere to go but the bank. Chemical has also bought some banks in Texas that look like astute acquisitions. Real estate there has already turned around and will enjoy an extended recovery; the bank will experience a big decline in nonperforming assets and charge-offs and a significant increase in loan demand. Chemical should earn $6 to $7 a share in 1995 and 1996, and the stock is at $45. Here's a major U.S. corporation with substantial earnings potential. My target is $70 a share.

MICHAEL PRICE Chairman, Mutual Series Fund Long one of Wall Street's most talented value investors, Price, 42, has bounced back from a sub-par year in 1990, when his funds underperformed the market. ''Everybody lags sometimes,'' he says, ''but value wins in the end.'' Apparently so. His flagship, the $3.4 billion Mutual Shares fund, is up 16% this year, more than double the market; its average annual return during the past ten years is over 17%. Here's what I'm thinking as the market moves to new highs. You want to have 20% of that $100,000 in short-term Treasuries, say, two years or less. Interest rates are low, but I always like to have some money around to take advantage of new opportunities. Call it ammunition. I wouldn't look for higher yields in long bonds right now. And I don't think junk makes any sense either. Why lend your money to those kinds of businesses at less than 10%? I'd put 60% of the money in U.S. equities. As far as the movement of the overall stock market is concerned, I don't pay much attention to that, but I'd say we are closer to the end of the bull market than the beginning. I think oil stocks and telecommunications stocks have gotten ahead of themselves. Banks have moved up nicely, and I say it's late in the day for financial stocks. This is really an interesting time. Health care, tobacco, and food companies, the growth stocks of the 1980s, were almost never cheap enough for a value investor like me. But lately they've been so badly beaten up that they're very appealing. What's been pummeled more than Philip Morris? It's one of the best values around. The stock is down from $86 to about $45 a share, and the yield is now about 5.6%. Two great food stocks are Ralston Purina and Quaker Oats. Ralston sells for $40 a share, or a P/E of 14 based on 1993 earnings, which is about a 30% discount to the market. We think the stock is easily worth $58. Besides pet foods, cereals, and snacks, the company also makes Eveready batteries. It just spun off 55% of Continental Baking, which makes Wonder bread and Hostess cakes, and that adds to shareholder value. Quaker, which makes everything from oatmeal to Gatorade, sells for $68 a share, and we think it's worth $100. Unlike the stocks of most other food companies, Quaker's didn't drop a ton this year because its earnings growth is so consistent. Still, it's undervalued. The whole trick here is buying something worth a dollar for 50 cents. Then there's Merck. Why not buy the best? It's down from $56 a share to a little over $30. Its decision to purchase Medco Containment Services, which sells drugs by mail, makes sense. The company is saying, ''Okay, we can't stand still.'' It's funny for a value investor like me to be talking about Merck, but that's how low the price is. Here's a story: Medical Care America. It's the result of a merger between Medical Care International and Critical Care America. The company runs surgical centers and has a home infusion-therapy business. Since the companies joined in September 1992, the stock has taken a dive, from $64 to $18 a share, because competition in the home therapy business hurt earnings and because investor expectations were too high. But there's value here. The company has about $170 million of cash on its balance sheet -- that alone is worth $6 a share -- and I think it will earn about $1.40 next year. With the remaining 20% of your $100,000, I'd buy European stocks. Here's why: Interest rates are higher abroad, and as they drop, overseas stock ; markets will pick up. There are also some changing tax rules in Germany and other countries that will require companies to sell off securities held as assets, giving them important gains. One of my favorite stocks is Veba, a German conglomerate in hydroelectric power, coal, chemicals, and real estate. The stock trades for 426 marks, or about $260, a share, which I think is only 50% of what the underlying assets are worth. Varta is a German battery company controlled by the same group of families that owns BMW. It has a very clean balance sheet, and the stock sells for 318 marks a share, or $195, about 12 times estimated 1994 earnings. That's only three or four times estimated cash flow per share, compared with about 12 times for Duracell. On the London stock exchange, Thorn EMI, the record company and music publisher, is also selling cheaply. It has a worldwide rental business, including Rent-A-Center, a big American company that supplies furniture, appliances, and jewelry to consumers. Rent-A-Center was recently the subject of an expose in the Wall Street Journal that I think was greatly exaggerated. The stock sells for about (pounds)9 ($13.50), which we think is cheap. Thorn is a unique company in that it has the last music catalogue not owned by a major media company. At (pounds)9, you are paying for a large record company and getting its rental businesses free. We also like Nestle, which has great global reach. It's either No. 1 or No. 2 in most of its candy and coffee businesses. The margins in Nescafe are huge, and the company has paid down much of the debt it took on when it bought Perrier. This is a great long-term value. I'd put $5,000 in each of these foreign stocks. Nestle has ADRs; your broker can arrange to purchase the other stocks abroad.

ELAINE GARZARELLI Director of Sector Analysis, Lehman Brothers Over the past half-decade, Garzarelli's name has become synonymous with accurate forecasts of the market's twists and turns. She predicted the 1987 crash, the following upturn, the bear market in early 1990, and the ensuing bull in September. While other market prognosticators have danced in and out of the market since then, Garzarelli has remained steadfastly bullish; so far she's been right.

As an individual investor, I would have 100% of my money in equities. I'm that bullish. Besides, there really is no alternative. Stocks will continue to give double-digit returns, while the yields on bonds are low, and so is their ( potential for capital gains. Using my own quantitative model, which runs from one to 100, with 30 or under being bearish, I'd rate this market a 67. My research shows that the market is 13% undervalued on the basis of this year's earnings and about 25% undervalued on the basis of 1994 earnings. What would make me turn bearish? If T-bill rates were to rise from their current 3% level to 4%, that would mean the Fed was tightening, and money might move out of stocks. There are three industry groups I like, all sectors that benefit from low interest rates and that are expanding faster than the GDP, which I think will grow at a rate of about 3% for the next year or so. The first group, consumer durables, includes things like refrigerators, appliances, furniture, and autos. We expect sales in this group to grow at about a 7% annual rate. In particular, we like Whirlpool. We expect appliance sales to grow 20% in 1994 since it will be easier for consumers to borrow because of low interest rates. Whirlpool's operating profits have surprised analysts on the upside this year. The stock sells for $59 a share, and the company should earn $4.50 a share in 1994. With continued earnings growth over the next year, the stock could hit $100 in 1995. Black & Decker has dropped 22% since February 1992, which gives it plenty of upside, since earnings are growing 20% a year. Some of the company's recent problems have to do with weakness in overseas markets, but they will pick up soon. Residential construction should grow 15% during the next 12 months because mortgage rates are still falling, which helps boost housing demand. We expect earnings for the S&P homebuilding group to rise 20% next year, vs. 13% for the S&P 500. A good pick is Centex, a national builder. The stock sells for $40 a share, and the company should earn $2.30 a share for fiscal 1994. Our second industry group, capital goods, will benefit from lower interest rates as companies buy new machinery because of lower borrowing costs. Halliburton, the oil services giant, is down 42% from its 1990 high. Here, too, earnings have been surprising us on the upside. We believe the stock could hit about $44 a share, more than 31% above where it is now. USX is coming from an earnings loss last year, to a slight profit this year, to a huge gain in 1994. Its steel mills are returning to profitability ahead of those of most other producers. Clark Equipment, which makes axles, transmissions, and construction equipment, posted a loss last year but should earn $1.75 a share this year and $3 in 1994. The stock sells for $46 a share. The company recently sold its forklift business, which accounted for 45% of revenues but was unprofitable. Texas Instruments will make money off a boost in capital spending since its chips are used in computers and, increasingly, production equipment. We see its earnings growing 35% over the next year. The stock has moved up from the mid-50s to the mid-70s since the spring, but because TI's business is booming right now, it could move significantly higher. Financial stocks are the third group we like. Banks do well when interest rates fall because the rates they pay depositors fall faster than the rates they charge borrowers. These stocks have been on a long upturn, but we look for a few to continue to outperform, most notably Citicorp. At $35 a share, the stock has hit a new high. Our bank analyst recently raised his 1993 earnings estimate to $2.90 a share. He's sticking to $3.75 for 1994, but that too could rise. The dividend, which was cut in 1991, could be restored next year.