"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 thought 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'll once again assume our position beneath Mr. Market's silverware drawer. As the knives plummet, we'll measure which have fallen farthest. Then we'll head over to Motley Fool CAPS, and ask which of these stocks -- if any -- Foolish investors think are ready to rebound to new highs.

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

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals  (NASDAQ:NABI)

$7.36

$4.51

****

Intertape Polymer  (NYSE:ITP)

$8.16

$3.96

*

Neurochem  (NASDAQ:NRMX)

$26.51

$5.70

*

Cytokinetics  (NASDAQ:CYTK)

$9.50

$5.17

*
Five stars = highest possible CAPS rating; one star = lowest. 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.

Once again, our list proves the converse of the "everybody loves a winner" maxim. When a stock falls on hard times, its popularity evaporates right quick. Today's list brings us three stocks with the lowest rating permitted on CAPS. We do have one exception, though, since hope springs eternal that Nabi Biopharmaceuticals can bounce back.

What hope could Fools possibly find in a firm that's underperformed the S&P 500 by 40 points during the last 52 weeks? Let's find out.

The bull case for Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
CAPS contributor NetscribeHealthC introduces us to the company:

Nabi develops and commercializes medical products with a focus on gram-positive bacterial infections, hepatitis, and kidney disease and nicotine addiction. ... It has three products in the market. ... Nabi's products in clinical development include vaccines and antibody-based therapies. Civacir is under phase-II clinical trail [sic], for preventing reinfection with hepatitis C disease in liver transplant patients; and NicVAX is also in phase-II clinical trial, for the treatment of nicotine addiction.

tdedmondjr adds: "It's got serious backing [from Chiron Corporation and the NIH] and a proven history of bringing along remedies with enough firepower to attract suitors during pre-clinical phase. A new CEO and promising pipeline."

But JNoise really sums up the bull thesis for this one, and does so succinctly: "what would you pay to quit smoking?"

CAPS investors seem to think people will pay a lot, and are betting that Nabi's NicVAX can deliver. Zyban and Nicorette have certainly helped out GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK). If Nabi can duplicate the success of those products, "bounce" may be the most understated word to describe what's in store for this stock.

Time to chime in
So what do you think? Can Nabi bounce back on the strength of its drugs in development, or will this company go up in smoke? Come on over to CAPS and make yourself heard.

Motley Fool CAPS: It's fun, it's free, and it just might make you famous.

GlaxoSmithKline is a Motley Fool Income Investor recommendation. Try our market-beating dividend-stock newsletter free for 30 days.

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 No. 769 out of more than 60,000 raters. The Fool's disclosure policy is very good at dodging.