5 Stocks Bouncing Back

However hard the market slams a stock, there's always the chance it'll come bouncing right back. We'll consult our Motley Fool CAPS community to find shares on the rebound, examining one specific sector of the economy in search of companies with rising CAPS ratings.          

Among the 582 stocks listed under consumer goods in the CAPS' screener, we've unearthed more than a few with five-star ratings. Those accolades mean our 150,000 CAPS members are confident that these stocks will beat the market in the months ahead. Let's see what members are saying about the five below:

Source: Motley Fool CAPS; Yahoo! Finance.
LT = long-term.

As the broader market averages have staged a pretty bold recovery until recently, conglomerates have done even better. The average consumer goods company has tripled in value from the year-ago period, but that includes some that were at, or over, the brink of bankruptcy. That includes auto parts manufacturer Dana Holdings (NYSE: DAN), which has climbed almost 5,000%, and premium bed maker Select Comfort (Nasdaq: SCSS), which has had a similarly spectacular run-up following its auditor filing a "going concern" notice.

So let's take a closer look at why investors think a couple of these companies won't be jumping from the frying pan into the fire from the market's lofty heights.

Some spring in its step
Chinese consumer AV electronics maker NIVS IntelliMedia Technology Group is a good example of the risks and rewards inherent in such overseas investments. Although it was able to score a contract valued at $28 million with China Telecom for two mobile phone products, it also recently announced it needed to restate results for the past three quarters. While that lowered per-share earnings by only $0.02 over the past nine months, it virtually wiped out the company's reported free cash flows for the period.  

Recognizing those risks, highly rated CAPS All-Star TSIF believes the potential rewards still lean in its favor, particularly at its lower valuations:

Revenue and profit have been growing steadily quarter over quarter and profit margin at 9% with operating margin at 12% are very respectable for this type of company. Debt is high at $54 Million, but decreasing qtr/qtr and manageable. NIVS also is managing expansion of their factory from existing cash flow. While Chinese companies continuously cycle in and out of favor, I believe the long term outlook on NIVS is positive. I believe, short of a fall of favor again of Chinese stocks, the current entry price is very low risk, but good upside potential

It has a certain glow
Back when commodity prices were blowing through the roof, corn-based ethanol producers were chastised for converting food stocks into fuel and raising the cost of basic necessities for consumers. Sugar-based ethanol was seen as a better alternative, but the risks have come into focus as Brazil -- the world's largest producer of sugar ethanol -- has suffered poor crop harvests as a result of weather-related events, and that's causing sugar prices to soar on global markets.

U.S.-based Imperial Sugar doesn't have the ability to produce ethanol as it's a refiner of raw cane sugar, but its recent earnings were still affected by the broader events. It realized $19 million in gains on its hedging contracts, though that was offset by almost $9 million in higher raw sugar costs. With import quotas limiting the supply here in the U.S., Imperial is looking for the Agriculture department to raise the limits to help offset price increases.

CAPS All-Star TMFPhillyDot sees a recent joint venture announcement to market the natural sugar substitute Stevia as a potential driver of future profits:

Imperial has $66M in cash and a $176M market cap -- about $5.50 cash per share. Recently formed a JV with Malaysian company PureCircle to market and produce patented Stevia, a sugar substitute that is 3 times as sweet but has no calories. Major upside. Also markets honey, agave nectar, organic cane sugar, which should become more popular as people steer away from high fructose corn syrup.

With 89% of the more than 300 CAPS members who have rated Imperial expecting it to outperform the broader market averages, he's not alone. Head over to the Imperial Sugar CAPS page and let us know if this is a sweet deal.

The ball's in your court
There are many factors that go into whether a stock is a buy or sell, so it pays to start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS. Read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made -- all from a stock's CAPS page. Head over to CAPS today and share your thoughts with other investor analysts on whether you think these stocks are ready to bound higher.