Dear Foolish reader,
Maybe we have reached the market bottom, and maybe we haven't. Either way, it seems obvious that a few truly excellent companies and their stocks have been trampled to the point of "cruel and unusual punishment." And our CAPS community is an excellent place to start looking for outrageous values right now.
Here's what I'm looking for:
- Decent share prices and market caps -- no penny stocks, please!
- A steep fall from yearly highs.
- Not much of a bounce off the bottom.
- Four or five CAPS stars right now, six months ago, and a year ago. CAPS members love great businesses through thick and thin. Persistent love weeds out fads and the stocks that look dazzling only because they're cheap.
I got 246 results running this screen in our CAPS screening room on February 27. You can replicate my results for yourself and tinker with the criteria as you please; just be aware that your mileage may vary, since the market is a moving target. Here's the cream of my particular crop:
|
Company |
CAPS Rating (out of 5) |
Market Cap (millions) |
% Above 12-Month Low |
% Below 12-Month High |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
General Electric |
**** |
$89,544 |
1.3% |
77.9% |
|
|
Schlumberger |
***** |
$45,519 |
8.6% |
66.0% |
|
|
Dow Chemical |
**** |
$6,614 |
0.7% |
83.5% |
|
|
NYSE Euronext |
***** |
$4,473 |
3.4% |
78.0% |
|
|
Garmin |
**** |
$3,467 |
18.9% |
72.6% |
|
|
Atheros Communications |
***** |
$734 |
7.3% |
65.2% |
Source: Motley Fool CAPS.
Ranging from small potatoes like Atheros and Garmin to multinational giants like GE and Schlumberger, there's something in this screen for everyone. Nearly all of our Foolish newsletters have a representative or two in the 246-stock results list. For example, Garmin is a Global Gains pick, and Atheros is a Motley Fool Hidden Gems jewel.
What these stocks have in common is that they all have impressed CAPS players for a long time, through good times and bad. And they all look dirt cheap.
Great businesses tend to thrive after a recession, when the lesser lights stumble off to die. These particular stocks caught this Fool's roving eye as candidates for greatness at the end of the dark tunnel. Sign up for a 100% free CAPS account and see if you can do better.
Foolish best,
Anders
