Kiplinger thinks the changing interest rate landscape will mean more profits for financial institutions, and encouraged investors to take a look at Bank of America as a value play. Actually BofA is the largest holding in my portfolio. I also have sizeable exposure in Citigroup (C) and JP Morgan (JPM), two fellow banking plays.

Ted Baszler, portfolio manager of Heartland Select Value, thinks the Fed could start cutting rates by the end of this year. Long rates won't fall with short rates and could even rise, he figures. Result: a more normal, upward sloping interest-rate yield curve, in which long-term rates are noticeably higher than short-term rates. Such a normally shaped yield curve implies wider lending margins -- and plumper profits -- for banks. "Wall Street in general is not paying enough attention to financials," says the Milwaukee-based fund manager.

One of Heartland Select Value's recent purchases is Bank of America (BAC), which closed September 22 at $52.49, just 11.4 times this year's estimated earnings of $4.62 a share. Baszler likes the bank's conservative lending practices and thinks wider interest-rate margins can help B of A keep raising profits by 10% a year.