Focus only on only the "best of breed" companies in Europe, he advised.

You can't just say European investing, since the significant differences between the fiscal policies of its countries are becoming more obvious. For example, Germany's economy has received a strong boost from China buying its cars and industrial machinery.

"In terms of economic strength in the European community, clearly Greece and Portugal rank at the bottom of the list, while Germany, England and France rank toward the top," observed Paul Nolte, managing director of Dearborn Partners in Chicago. "This is not a homogeneous group of companies that you can talk about in the same way."

Europe has similar banking, consumer and economic issues as those of the U.S., Nolte noted, so a diversified mutual fund or stocks with global exposure provide the best bets.

"The use of debt financing in Europe is relatively immature and this inexperience has caused most of Europe's industrial base to have too much debt," Samra warned. "Investors should be very careful about looking at the debt levels of the European companies they're investing in."

Samra seeks these characteristics in the European stocks he buys for Artisan International's portfolio: Good price, well-positioned business, strong balance sheet with low debt and management team with a track record of creating shareholder wealth.

All of which makes good sense no matter what the continent.

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