Kenneth Heebner's CGM Funds of Boston last year posted one of the best performance records of any major mutual fund by betting against financials. The fund returned an astounding 80 percent.

Now Heebner is buying financials.

"A year from now, credit will be available because of the government's actions," said Heebner, quoted in The Wall Street Journal.

Heebner's strategy reversal, however, has not yet yielded the profits he anticipated. Over the last few months he accumulated a $1 billion-plus position in Citigroup and Bank of America, and an additional $780 million in Brazilian banks, the Journal reported.

In calculating what financial securities are attractive, Heebner generally ignores P/E ratios in favor of other means of measuring value. These alternative measures include evaluating price-to-tangible book value.

To calculate tangible book value — a company's net worth — intangible assets such as goodwill, patents, and similar items are subtracted from the balance sheet.

The resulting ratio of assets to price is one measurement which Heebner uses to determine what he buys. When the numbers indicate financials such as banks and other lenders are cheap, Heebner considers a purchase.

Right now about 20 of the country's biggest lenders are at the lowest price-to-tangible book value levels in almost twenty years, according to Heebner. These include Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, he says.

At least one expert on financials seems to agree with Heebner's heavy move into this sector —Henry Kaufman, president of investment banking firm Kaufman & Company of Boston.

But there's a caveat, according to Kaufman.

"The pricing power of these huge financial conglomerates will grow significantly, at the expense of borrowers and investors," he wrote in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed piece.