"Don't catch a falling knife." Thus commandeth the old saw (to mix a cutlery metaphor).
But if people weren't tempted to catch cutlery in the first place, there'd be no need for this little bit of investing wisdom, would there? The idea of buying a former highflier at a discount price certainly has its attractions. The trick, of course, is to increase the odds that when you make your grab, you're catching haft, not blade. That's where we come in.
In The Motley Fool's continuing effort to keep your investing dollars safe, today we once again assume our position beneath Mr. Market's silverware drawer. As the knives plummet, we'll measure who's fallen farthest. Then we'll head over to Motley Fool CAPS, and ask which of these stocks Foolish investors think are ready to rebound to new highs -- if any.
With that said, let's meet today's list of contenders, drawn from the latest "52-week lows list" at MSN Money:
|
52-week high
|
Currently fetching
|
CAPS rating
|
|
CE Franklin (AMEX: CFK )
|
$18.74
|
$9.08
|
****
|
|
Sigmatel (Nasdaq: SGTL )
|
$ 12.05
|
$3.46
|
**
|
|
Vonage (NYSE: VG )
|
$17.25
|
$5.38
|
*
|
|
GeoMet (Nasdaq: GMET )
|
$12.00
|
$8.24
|
*
|
|
Genesis Microchip (Nasdaq: GNSS )
|
$22.45
|
$7.95
|
*
|
|
Distributed Energy Systems (Nasdaq: DESC )
|
$ 10.25
|
$2.95
|
*
|
|
Adaptec (Nasdaq: ADPT )
|
$6.70
|
$3.70
|
*
|
Companies are selected from the "New 52-Week Lows" list published on MSN Money on the Saturday following close of trading last week. 52-week high and current pricing provided by Yahoo! Finance. CAPS ratings from Motley Fool CAPS.
Knives and knaves
As you can see, our fellow investors over on CAPS aren't terribly enamored of this lot. The vast majority of the stocks on MSN's "shot" list don't even have CAPS ratings, because they're too small and too illiquid to merit inclusion in our service. Of the few that did make the initial cut, a whopping 85% receive lower-than-average ratings of just one or two stars.
Ready to bounce?
And then there's CE Franklin. Don't be surprised if you've never heard of it. The firm's based in Canada, and here in the U.S., its shares trade not on the Nasdaq or NYSE, but on the less prestigious AMEX stock exchange. But a handful of CAPS players do know the company, and like it enough to rate it at four stars.
CAPS all-star SmokeyJoeSmokin explains why, calling it an "undiscovered oil play in the service sector." Joe thinks that "going forward... Canada's oil industry will continue to boom [and] the US will rely more and more on Canada to provide us energy. This bodes well for CFK."
Why? Because Franklin's stock in trade is, well, trading in the stock that keeps Canada's oil producers producing. It distributes pipe, valves, and related oilfield supplies in, for example, Canada's "oil sands" regions. In addition, Franklin designs, test, services, and repairs oil pumps for the producers.
Sounds logical to me, but what do you think? Do you agree with Joe, and the other 17 CAPS players who have rated this stock an outperformer? Or do you disagree? Whichever way you lean, at CAPS, you've got a chance to make yourself heard, and help your fellow investors in the process.
Motley Fool CAPS: It's fun, it's free, and it just might make you famous.
Fool contributor Rich Smith does not own shares of any company named above. You can find him on CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handle TMFDitty, where he's currently ranked 32 out of well more than 21,000 raters. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
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