Get Ready for the Bounce

"Don't try to 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 bit of investing wisdom, would there? The idea of buying a former highflier at a discount 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 nonstop efforts to keep your investing dollars safe, today we 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 to Motley Fool CAPS and ask which -- if any -- of these stocks Foolish investors think are ready to rebound to new highs.

That said, let's meet today's contenders, drawn from the latest 52 Week Low list at Nasdaq.com:

If there's one good thing about a broad-based market sell-off, it's that a lot of terrific companies are getting the ol' baby 'n' bathwater treatment. Tossed out on their rosy little bums as if they were bums of another sort. You know -- just know -- that some of these babies are gonna bounce right back once the suds subside.

How long will it take? No one knows. But as we're already several percent into the latest market downturn, it can't hurt to start sifting through the wreckage. Maybe we'll find something worth buying today -- maybe just a few ideas we can revisit if the stocks get cheaper still.

This week, CAPS investors see a couple of bargains on the block. The one that excites them is far afield from where most investors seek to make investments -- and by far afield I mean far north of the continental U.S. -- Alaska.  

The bull case for Northrim BanCorp
Lady Fools and gentle-Fools, allow me to introduce Northrim BanCorp, a 17-year-old micro-cap bank based in Anchorage that possesses the chutzpah to compete (albeit on its home turf) with heavyweights the likes of Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY).

As a resident of the balmy American South, I don't know much about this bank. Allow me to defer to a CAPS player who does -- LaughingRaven, who, according to his CAPS profile, is an Anchorage resident:

They're a mid-size community bank, still operated by one of the founders. Their executive offices are on the second floor of their five-story headquarters, right down the hall from the common rabble in Accounting and HR. To me, that shows an interest in being in touch with the business, rather than being removed from it all and hoarding the best offices for themselves.

It's a good start, but how does Northrim stack up against the competition? Pretty well, as it turns out. The firm generates operating margins superior to those of the average Pacific regional bank; superior, too, to the margins sported by either Wells Fargo or KeyCorp.

It's also growing its revenues faster than either of those two worthies. With a P/E of 9, a record of growing its earnings at about 9% per year over the last half-decade, and a decent dividend yield in the low 3s, Northrim looks anything but overvalued to me. In fact, it just might be cheap enough to bounce.

Time to chime in
Of course, the aim of this column isn't just to tell you what I think about Northrim BanCorp -- or even what other CAPS players are saying. We also want to hear your thoughts. Click on over to Motley Fool CAPS and tell us what you think.