Why Did My Stock Just Die?

Your stock just took a nosedive -- but don't panic. First, let's see whether it had good reason to fall. Sometimes, panic-fueled drops can make excellent buying opportunities. Here's the latest crop of cratered stocks that could provide a possibility for profit:

On a day when the bottom dropped out of the market and tumbled 165 points, or 1.5%, stocks that dropped even further are big deals.

The devil's in the details
Infinera was the market's worst performer yesterday. While it reported higher earnings this quarter than a year ago, it said things looked weaker than expected because everyone's built out what they wanted to, so now they're going to take a breather.

That sort of outlook sucked Oclaro into the vortex, too. Investors looking at the optical networking industry have to decide whether this is an issue specific to Infinera -- it has a relatively small number of customers and Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq: LVLT) represented 11% of revenues last quarter -- or does it point to an overarching trend in the industry? Investors chose the easy way out and dumped everyone. Infinera, Oclaro, and Finisar were all down by double-digit percentages, while JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) were off by lesser amounts.

The risk with Infinera is the customer concentration it has: Just five customers account for 60% of its revenues. Yet, high-speed networking isn't going to disappear; in fact it's going to keep growing, even if it goes though some short boom-bust cycles. That's pretty much the consensus on CAPS, too, where All-Stars like xserver say the sell-off was an overreaction and Geofiz says Infinera remains an otherwise financially sound company.

If Infinera's sell-off was an exaggeration, then Oclaro investors undoubtedly believe their optical specialist was unfairly drawn into the maelstrom, too. Its customer base is much broader (though it does include Infinera on the list), and it trades at a discount to either Infinera or Finisar. At 10 times 2012's earnings and valued at less than its growth prospects, Oclaro would certainly seem to earn the confidence of the CAPS member that back it.

Though 88% of those rating the firm expect it to outperform the broad market averages, only you can decide if Oclaro is right for your portfolio. Add it to your My Watchlist page where all the Foolish news and analysis about this stock is aggregated for you.

The sky's not the limit
It's not customer issues that sank LDK Solar yesterday, but the decision by the Chinese government to raise interest rates. With the 0.25% hike, rumors that Beijing might let the yuan strengthen versus the U.S. dollar and other currencies were off and running. That would result in its solar panels becoming more expensive internationally and presumably cooling off what has otherwise been hot demand.

JA Solar's (Nasdaq: JASO) shares also got walloped in the market's freefall as the potential for a trade war between the U.S. and China continues to mount.

The Obama administration is engaged in a game of one-upmanship with its trading counterpart -- imposing high tariffs on steel and tires, calling for investigations into solar subsidies, and trying to strong-arm the country into changing its monetary policy -- only to see China retaliate with tariffs on steel used in power generation and on chicken, investigations into subsidies of U.S. car makers, and now a potential blocking of rare earth metal shipments that are used not only in consumer products and wind turbines, but are also critical to U.S. missile defense systems.

LDK Solar remains a CAPS favorite with 93% of the more than 1,400 members who've rated the solar shop expecting it to continue turning up the heat in the sector. But let us know in the comments section below or on LDK Solar's CAPS page whether it will be able to overcome the way both sides are marching lockstep toward a trade war.

Ready for a resurrection
Just because your stock has taken a beating doesn't mean it's going to roll over and die. Markets are known for overreacting. A closer look at what's happened to your stock can give you an edge over other investors who just react to the market's lead.

That's why it pays to start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS, where you can read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made, all from the stock's CAPS page. Then you can decide for yourself whether it's ready to come back from the dead.