3 Top Stocks at Half Price

You love buying your shirts when they go on sale. And who can resist a buy-one-get-one-free offer? So when our stocks go on sale, why do we bemoan their low prices?

Smart investors like Warren Buffett or Marty Whitman love it when their stocks are suddenly selling at bargain-basement prices. For them, these companies become no-brainer buys.

The investors in the Motley Fool CAPS community also like a bargain, apparently. Below, you'll find three companies whose shares are selling at least 50% below their 52-week highs, but which still earn high honors from our investor-intelligence database. Consider it a BOGO sale on stocks.

Naturally, we want you to look a bit closer at these stocks before buying. You can get low-priced appliances in the dent-and-ding section of your home-remodeling superstore, but their quality might not be so good. Same thing here: Make sure there's nothing seriously wrong with the company before you plug it into your portfolio.

Take two -- they're small
Right now, the discussion about Microvision is centered on whether Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) will ever put one of its projectors into an iPhone or iPad, or if it can pair up with a gaming company like Electronic Arts to make video games completely immersive. That and whether it can turn a profit.

The other day, though, I watched a video from MIT's Media Lab that had me thinking about just how far this projection technology can really go. MIT developed what they call a "wearable gestural interface" -- really, a combination camera, cell phone, and projector -- that recognizes and tracks a user's hand gestures as well as physical objects using computer-vision techniques. Think of Tom Cruise in Minority Report where he's manipulating computer images in the air with his hands. That's exactly what MIT's "Sixth Sense" prototype does.

For example, put your hands up in the classic picture frame position, and the camera recognizes that gesture and takes a picture of whatever you're looking at. You can then turn and face a wall -- or your friend's back -- and the projector casts the image on the surface that you can manipulate using your fingers. Want to call your friend's phone? Aim the projector at your hand and dial the number by pressing the keypad image displayed there. You could even get Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) ratings while looking at books in a store, then open the cover to get reader reviews.

Cool, futuristic stuff, for sure, but Microvision's technology -- whether it's actually being used here, I don't know -- could head off in that direction, too. They're already working with the military on some uses, and Pioneer will incorporate its PicoP laser technology into its transparent head-up displays found in cars and consumer products.

While I get caught up in the technology, CAPS member pchop123 takes a more practical look at Microvision's patents and partners and likes what he sees. But only you can decide whether Microvision is worth a small spot in your portfolio. Add it to your watchlist, where all the Foolish news and analysis about this stock is aggregated for you.

A reserve player
Although Fuqi International was just given an extension by the Nasdaq exchange before its stock is delisted, the Chinese jewelry dealer still faces a mountain of concerns. It hasn't solicited proxies, held an annual meeting of shareholders, or filed quarterly and annual reports with the SEC for some time. It's got until May 9 to get the proxies and meetings in place, but investors might want to see some hard financial numbers before putting their money here.

As highly rated CAPS All-Star GunnarVagotis notes, Fuqi was one of several Chinese small-cap stocks that have come under the microscope for greater scrutiny that enjoyed a one-day bounce in their stock. Let us know on the Fuqi International CAPS page whether this can ever be considered a diamond in the rough again.

On the level
China Green Agriculture is another of those Chinese small caps operating under a cloud of suspicion -- though its stock is seeing an uptrend, rising about 5% over the past week. As it wormed its way into the industry currently occupied by Yongye International (Nasdaq: YONG) and China Agritech (Nasdaq: CAGC), it basically admitted to investors last September that the numbers that Chinese companies report to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) may be outright fabrications.

It says, of course, that its numbers are bogus, and no knowledgeable investor would have ever relied upon them. Thanks for the news, and now that investors have become aware of the shenanigans many of these small caps are pulling, many are not relying upon much of what their management says.

Yet don't throw out the baby with the bath water, says CAPS investor MrPrognosticator. CGA recently made an acquisition that gives it greater distribution, but he's just not happy it will be for a lower margin product.

This creator of 55,000 metric tons just bought another fertilizer producer which produces [300,000] metric tons annually with an established distribution system. I actually like this move, as it gives them access to the distribution chain of rural farmers and allows them to provide them with a low and high end product, a Toyota and a Lexus if you will. Perhaps it's more like a GM & a Lexus, but you get the idea. However with it comes the news that they'll be switching to a commodity driven (low market potential, high competition) product.

Have half a mind
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