Companies in the services business tend to fall into that category, because they don't have a lot of hard assets.

"We will be a company based on hard assets and very predictable revenues."

"People thought that if you put hard assets into the ground, at the very least you'd get your money back," one investment banker said.

But good will was amortized over far more time than hard assets.

"If you look at what infrastructure is, it's really the hard assets that provide essential services to a community," he said.

"Real estate represents something technology doesn't - and that is hard assets," he said.

Buyers aren't necessarily hungry for the target companies' hard assets.

Real estate funds gained nearly 8 percent as investors sought hard assets.

That may be true, but it's also a business with specific, definable hard assets - equipment, a patient list and office space.

In the post-Enron world, hard assets carry a lot of value."

"That's when people tend to get out of financial assets and into hard assets like gold."

Because a network buyer is not getting hard assets, assessing value is difficult.

The hard assets are finally being sold off.

"Hard assets and financial assets going up at the same time, that's just not natural.

In general, commodities/hard assets are negatively correlated to both stocks and bonds.

And smart money has figured this out early, and they're investing in hard assets like art.

Typically most hard assets are an excellent inflation hedge.

But the continuing strength in the stock market deflated expectations that investors would move into hard assets like gold.

"There were hard assets for all the investments.

And they often moved into the market with stronger balance sheets and the backing of hard assets, like power plants.

That is the difference between the company's $735 million in hard assets, and claims against those assets of $845 million.

Good will is the difference between what a buyer pays for a company and the value of its hard assets like buildings and inventory.

"Stone & Webster is a service company that is trading for less than the value of its hard assets.

They advise companies to redirect resources from expensive "branding campaign" into hard assets, service and speed.

Goldman Sachs has adopted a multiple approach involving energy trading and the acquisition of hard assets.