Get Ready for the Bounce

"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:

Knives and knaves
Before we choose our most-likely bouncer of the week, I think it's worth pointing out a couple of glaringly obvious facts shown on the table above. First, as usual, investor sentiment weighs heavily against the market's downtrodden members. When a stock is down, and just keeps going down, then -- rightly or wrongly -- investors tend to lose faith and assign it accordingly low "star" ratings. Note that we've got just one company in the chart above that CAPS players rate "above average."

Second, take careful note of the stock prices of this week's "bottom five." Not one of them sells for more than $5, meaning that each may now fall under the SEC's definition of "penny stock." Now, when you think of it, there's no reason in the world why a $50 stock couldn't lose half its value in a year, fall to $25, and wind up on this list. Indeed, scanning this week's stock tables, I came across a couple of big-name firms that were trading within a hair's breadth of their 52-week lows at last report: Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) and newspaper magnate McClatchy (NYSE:MNI). Down 52% and 33% respectively from their highs, both sport double-digit stock prices -- and both may yet make our lows list. That said, it's instructive to note that even at their heights, the stocks that actually did make the list this week were trading pretty darn close to penny-stock status. Just a word to the Foolish.

With that PSA out of the way, let's move on to see what CAPS players are saying about the best-respected stock on today's list: U.S. Gold Corporation.

Cult of personality?
U.S. Gold chief Rob McEwen may well be the most famous CEO you've never heard of. While glancing over the comments out CAPS players have made about the stock, I was struck by the near-universal sentiment that this company is worth owning because of ... its biggest shareowner. For example:

• One apparent gold bug, writing under the handle aumet (remember your high school periodic table?), likes the fact that McEwen "put's [sic] his money where his mouth is by being a major holder."
• Aumet's not the only McEwen fan. Says LookingBeyond99: "Rob McEwen... was able to build [Goldcorp] into a mid tier gold company that more importantly really built wealth for its shareholders. Because of his track record and knowledge of the industry I think he will lead US Gold to successful new highs." LB further praises U.S. Gold's boss for not "diluting the company like most others do."
• CAPS All-Star forbes10 echoes that sentiment, pointing out that McEwen's "major inside ownership provides the incentive to grow shareholder value."

Unless Mr. McEwen is running a doppelganger game on us, it appears he's developed quite a fan club on CAPS. So has his company, which commands "outperform" ratings from 61 of the 63 investors who've rated the stock -- including all 21 All-Stars who have chimed in so far.

Speaking of which
Now you know what all the other CAPS players are saying about U.S. Gold, the question remains: What do you think? If you know the company, if you know the industry -- heck, if you just know McEwen himself, come on over to Motley Fool CAPS and tell us what you think.

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

Fool contributor Rich Smith owns shares of iRobot. You can find him on CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handle TMFDitty, where he's currently ranked 38 out of more than 24,000 raters. The Fool has a disclosure policy.