3 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 in the Motley Fool CAPS community also like a bargain, apparently. Below, you'll find three companies whose shares are selling at least 50% below their 52-week highs, but which still earn high 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 the company before you plug it into your portfolio.

Take two, they're small
The contrast with World Fuel Services couldn't be any starker for Aegean Marine Petroleum Network. Where Aegean has lost almost three-quarters of its value over the past year, World Fuel is up 33%, though it has dropped substantially so far in March.

We've heard about the glut of shipping vessels in reports from dry-bulk shippers Diana Shipping (Nasdaq: DSX), Eagle Bulk Shipping, and others, and similar weakness in oil tankers is reflected in the most recent earnings of Aegean. Despite witnessing rising fuel sales volumes, earnings were affected by narrower spreads, which hit margins. No doubt the turmoil in the Middle East is raising concerns that the whole industry will feel the outcome of the tumult, which is helping fuel the drop in World Fuel and Aegean.

CAPS member London2485 sees Aegean being a contrarian investor's dream stock, considering the weak earnings, lawsuits filed against it as a result, analyst downgrades, and a weak industry:

Let's look long term here. Ocean shipping isn't taking a backseat any time soon, particularly as global fuel prices rise. Although I'd avoid any bulk shipping companies (I've seen some odd pitches for Diana Shipping, Paragon Shipping, and some others), but [Aegean] predicts a nearly 40% revenue growth over 5 years on nearly 200% EPS growth rate (year over year).

No other company in the sector can boast those stats, and once this sector recovers, [Aegean] will be poised to reap the benefits.

Sail along with those eyeing Aegean's progress by adding it to the Fool's free portfolio tracker.

A reserve player
If Golden Star Resources is such a great opportunity, why does its stock keep trading lower? Sure, its Bogoso mine fell short of high expectations, producing less-than-hoped-for recovery rates. And though it can be considered a play on the price of gold like Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) at one extreme or U.S. Gold (NYSE: UXG) at the other, Golden Star has to contend with having higher production costs than many of its peers.

Yet considering the potential the precious metal has to aspire to even loftier heights, and the cheap valuation the market is assigning it based on forward earnings estimates, Golden Star would seem to be a small-cap gold player that could dominate soon enough.

With 96% of the All-Star CAPS members rating the junior gold miner marking it to outperform Wall Street's estimates (and the handful of analysts following it agreeing), there's a powerful chance Golden Star Resources can add some luster to your portfolio.

Let us know in the comments section below or on the Golden Star Resources CAPS page whether all that glitters really is gold.

Familiarity not breeding contempt here
Peter Lynch recommended buying what you know, and CAPS member ltlplanet says that's part of the investment thesis for online pharmacy drugstore.com:

First of all it's part brick and mortar (Rite-Aid among others) and a huge online presence. I use it regularly and I believe that my simplistic view makes actual sense. 1)I use it 2)I recommend it often 3)It's not going away any time soon.

The Rite-Aid (NYSE: RAD) partnership is just one of several important deals it has that could make drugstore.com a winning investment over the long haul. It also has agreements in place with MedcoHealth Solutions for nonprescription drug offerings and for providing technical and operational services for Medco's online storefront.

As a customer of Medco, I can attest that Medco has been pushing its storefront offerings a lot more lately, particularly after purchasing prescription meds from the company. With the five-year agreement between the two pharmacies expiring at the end of this year (with renewals for additional one-year periods possible thereafter), this could be a big push to realize greater returns on the partnership.

London2485 says there would need to be a lot more sales being generated by drugstore.com before recommending any near-term investment:

Drugstore.com simply hasn't shown the type of growth necessary to warrant any type of investment this year. The potential is there, but I want to see some substantial revenue and sales growth before I support this company.

Add the online pharmacy to your watchlist, then head over to the drugstore.com CAPS page and let us know if it has the prescription to remedy what ails it.

Have half a mind
Sign up today for the completely free CAPS service, and tell us whether these stocks are twice as good at half the price.