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The CAPS Screen: 5-Star Companies at Fire-Sale Prices

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With the S&P 500 down more than 20% since the start of 2008, it's been a rough year for all of us in the stock market. With so many stocks off their highs -- some deservedly, some indiscriminately -- the important question becomes "How can we separate disastrous companies like Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM  ) and Wachovia (NYSE: WB  ) from the very real opportunities that are out there right now?"

A great place to start looking is a pool of the favorite stocks of our 115,000 person-strong Motley Fool CAPS investment community. These stocks have the most bullish support, weighted by each player's ability.

With that approach in mind, I used our new CAPS screening tool to pick out some of the CAPS community's most beloved stocks currently trading at a discount. Let's look at five companies that have fallen 30% or more over the past year.

They also have:

  • Market caps greater than $2 billion.
  • Five-star ratings, the highest possible, from our CAPS community.

Since we began tracking the collective intelligence of our CAPS investment community in November 2006, five-star companies have outperformed the market, with an average annualized gain of more than 12%

Company

52-Week Return

Price-to-Earnings

Sector

Market Cap (in billions)

American Eagle (NYSE: AEO  )

(44%)

9.3

Consumer Goods

$2.9

America Movil (NYSE: AMX  )

(34%)

14.6

Telecommunications

$48.9

Foster Wheeler (Nasdaq: FWLT  )

(55%)

9.7

Industrial Goods

$4.6

Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY  )

(44%)

NA

Technology

$16.8

National-Oilwell Valco (NYSE: NOV  )

(41%)

11.3

Basic Materials

$20.0

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of Sept. 29.

Of course, screens are merely a first step in the stock-selection process. Come and join us on Motley Fool CAPS to dig into these companies further. Let our 115,000-strong (and counting) CAPS community help you identify the best opportunities today.

On Oct. 7, 2008, Fool Co-Founder David Gardner and his Motley Fool Pro team will invest $1 million in a portfolio designed to help you make money in any market. In the coming weeks, the team, relying heavily on proprietary CAPS "community intelligence" data, will establish long and short positions in a broad range of securities, including common stocks, publicly traded put and call options, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). To learn more about Motley Fool Pro and to receive a private invitation to join, simply enter your email address in the box below.

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Ilan Moscovitz doesn't own any of the companies mentioned in this article. America Movil is a Motley Fool Global Gains selection. American Eagle is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick. The Fool owns shares of American Eagle. The Fool's disclosure policy is awesome.


Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

  • Report this Comment On September 30, 2008, at 5:47 PM, Ishortyou wrote:

    Looks like Wachovia got rid off the prior toxic risky wasted bank subsidiaries and kept the good ones. Now it can start from scratch to build a new banking subsidiary with safe practice together with its remaining good outstanding subsidiaries. The current subsidiaries of Wachovia make it look like "Merrill Lynch without the toxic risky waste", good job from management it separated the good bank from the bad bank overnight, plus its CEO Bob Steel is one of the top rated mutual fund managers. Wachovia will keep the valuable human resources and the talent that have expirience in the banking business saving them for the new banking subsidiary. Buying the municipal bonds or the auction rate securities will give the inflow of cash as long as its hold even to maturity, so the prospects are good. Some investors are taking money away from Hedge Funds going wild and putting that money into accounts manage by people that know what they are doing, Bob Steel is one of those people that know what they are doing, dont be surprise some of this money will go to Wachovia subsidiaries. Earnings will be adjusted accordingly, like simple arithmetics they will manage its expenses vs its earnings to come ahead in capital and start piling up cash (saving cash a hard job for most of us that live on debt), this new cash will give them the jump start of a new banking subsidiary without even thinking about to sell its remaining subsidiaries

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2/14/2012 4:03 PM
NOV $83.93 Up +1.33 +1.61%
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WB $5.54 Down +0.00 +0.00%
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