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 -- and why.

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
Most stocks on MSN's "shot" list don't even have CAPS ratings; they're too small and too illiquid to merit inclusion in our service. As for the seven stocks listed above that do make the cut, so far, only two have attracted enough interest among our members to earn CAPS ratings.

Ready to bounce?
Of course, knowing who's fallen hardest is only half the battle. You still need to decide whether to reach out and grab the knife. That's where CAPS comes in. We've assembled more than 17,000 investors (and counting), and invited them to tell us which stocks they expect to outperform or underperform the S&P 500.

Problem is, while our collective intelligence has generated CAPS ratings for more than 3,000 stocks, that still leaves well over 7,000 more to go! Take, for example, the five unrated stocks you see up above. If we can get three more Fool readers to assign ratings to Intertape and Source Interlink, then presto-chango, they'll join the ranks of rated stocks. A handful more votes for the other three, and we'll have attached stars to all five of 'em -- telling all of Fooldom whether the stocks are likely to rebound from their current lows, or plunge even further.

Which is where you come in. You see, Motley Fool CAPS is the great equalizer. Here, it doesn't matter whether you work for an investment bank, or as a teller in a bank; whether you've got a CFA attached to your name, or you're still working toward your B.A. If you've got knowledge to contribute on one of the stocks named above, come on over and tell us about it.

Motley Fool CAPS: Where all investors have their say, and the best arguments carry the day.

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 391 out of more than 17,000 raters.