5 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 who populate the Motley Fool CAPS community also like a bargain, apparently. Below, you'll find five stocks whose shares are selling at least 50% below their 52-week highs but that still earn top 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 a company before you plug it in to your portfolio.

Take two; they're small
He survived an attack of his stewardship at the nation's largest natural-gas producer, and now CEO Aubrey McClendon has to prove to investors that he deserves the authority they've vested in him.

The past year has been tumultuous for Chesapeake Energy. After shares soared to their highest point ever last year, the collapse of energy prices as the economy was sent into a tailspin also caused Chesapeake's shares to plunge as well. It might seem a bit of a cheap shot to condemn a CEO for the stock's performance over a six-month period after 20 years at the helm, but McClendon and the board of directors didn't do much to win much shareholder sympathy.

After McClendon became the poster boy for CEOs buying their company's stock on margin -- and then losing it all on the dreaded margin call -- the board of directors set about to make him whole again, even as common shareholders were left behind in the market downdraft.

The board awarded McClendon a one-time $75 million bonus, even though Chesapeake lost $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009. It then went on to approve sponsorship of the basketball team he's a part-owner of, purchased more than $177,000 worth of food from a restaurant the CEO owns, and bought more than $12 million worth of McClendon's art, even though it already hung in the company's buildings.

Although he was applauded at the recent shareholders' meeting as he defended his tenure, accepting at face value the board's rationalizations for its actions seems naive. Still, Chesapeake Energy faces persistently low natural-gas prices. It's selling assets to raise cash, and it's cutting back production, just as SandRidge Energy (NYSE:SD) and Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) are doing.

With more than $14 billion in debt on the books, however, the natural-gas producer might be facing some financial distress that the others aren't seeing. It has more than $23 billion in contractual obligations, with more than $10 billion worth coming due over the next few years. While the disparity between natural-gas prices and oil remains extreme (suggesting that they may correct at some point), natural gas is feeling the impact especially hard because of an abundance of inventory and the potential for low-cost foreign liquid natural gas to keep prices depressed.

Highly rated CAPS All-Star member CREWatcher likes the potential that Chesapeake Energy holds but wonders whether its financial situation -- along with its management and board issues -- will ultimately swamp the company. If it's able to overcome those hurdles, he sees the natural-gas producer soaring about five times higher than where it currently trades.

In the ground are 11.8 trillion cfe [cubic feet equivalent] of proved reserves and 236 trillion cfe of unproved reserves of various quality. Giving the company credit for 30% of its unproved reserves yields a total of about 80 trillion cfe. Say the company can sell the gas for $1 more per thousand cfe than it costs to get the gas (including paying McClendon and everybody else). That would value the company at about $80 billion. Subtract $14 billion for debt, for a value of $66 billion. With 626 million shares outstanding, that's $105 per share. If I were more comfortable with management, I'd tack on a premium for their management of this resource and another boost for my rosy expectations for gas prices in the long run. But, Management is a concern, and my 30% credit for unproven reserves may be to high, so I'll just stick with $105 for now.

Have half a mind
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