The stock market’s volatility that has come amid recent signs of economic stagnation and the continuing debt crisis in Europe creates investment opportunities in the U.S., says star financial analyst Meredith Whitney, who has her own consulting firm.

"Fundamentals are not playing into valuations now at all,” she said at an investment conference, CNBC reports.

“You've got great companies that are trading horribly, you've got pretty junky companies that are way overvalued. For the first time in 3 1/2 years, I think you can begin to invest fundamentally and make money."

Meredith Whitney (Associated Press photo)

One area Whitney finds attractive is what she calls "emerging markets within the United States."

That’s largely the agricultural Midwest and other areas largely unscathed by the housing crisis. Those regions can grow, while the economy as a whole struggles, she says.

"You have incredible opportunities that are being created outside the U.S. that actually will help the U.S. get out of its morass," Whitney says.

"The fact that China goes from a net exporter of food to a net food importer actually benefits the US. The fact that there's increasing global demand benefits the U.S."

But many investors have lost their enthusiasm for U.S. stocks.

“For the S&P 500, I don’t expect we will cover much ground when we look at the trend over the rest of the year,” Edward Yardeni of Yardeni Research tells Bloomberg. “The main reason is that earnings estimates are just too high.”