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 and 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
These should be boom times for North American Energy Partners, an oil and gas industry equipment and services provider that does work in the oil sands of Canada. The current environment encourages growth, as oil trades for $100 a barrel, with a pretty good likelihood that it will soon hit $120. High oil prices make oil sands a much more economically attractive place to drill, and the major players in the space are doing pretty well.

Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) recently won $50 million worth of contracts to construct oil storage tanks up in the oil sands, and North American Energy won three new contracts, including one five-year contract from Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU) for civil construction and mining.

But while business is up and players in the space are running ahead, NAEP is sitting on the sidelines in terms of its share price. Suncor shares trade 30% higher over the past year, Canadian Natural Resources shares are up 25%, and Cenovus Energy is more than 40% above last year's mark. Yet North American Energy is down 32% over the past 12 months, and it sits 54% below its 52-week high.

With heavy equipment work at a Canadian Natural project damaged earlier this year, North American had to write down $40 million related to it, and said it might need to write off $72 million more. The depressed value of its stock probably explains why hedge fund investor Phil Falcone became interested, disclosing that he had a better-than-10% ownership stake in North American through his Harbinger Group.

The CAPS community remains hopeful, too, with all but one of the 102 All-Stars rating NAEP marking it to outperform the broad market averages. Add North American Energy Partners to the Fool's free portfolio tracker, and see whether it can work itself out of its sticky situation.

Kicked to the curb
Sneaker maker Skechers can't get any traction. It got caught with a ton of inventory related to its failed toning shoe fad, and the market punched holes through its valuation like it was a pair of old Crocs. The stock is down 30% in the past three months, and with another quarter of write-offs coming up, the number of shares sold short has been creeping back up.

Fortunately, Skechers offers consumers a wide variety of styles to choose from. In fact, it still ranks among the largest sneaker makers, behind industry leader Nike (NYSE: NKE), which just might become interested in its rival if its valuation stays as low as it is. It trades at less than eight times trailing profits and 12 times estimates, and based on its growth prospects it's discounted heavily.

As it tries to put some distance between itself and the toning-shoe mess, Skechers is heading back into the performance and training business -- Nike's obvious strength, but also an area targeted by Adidas and New Balance. Nike, or even one of the others, might find Skechers' blend of styles worth lacing up.

Add the shoe maker to your watchlist, then walk over to the Skechers CAPS page and let us know if you think it can shape up.

A smaller form factor
Chip maker Trident Microsystems has felt the pressure of consumers staying away from pricey home entertainment and consumer electronic systems. If you're not selling an iPad or an iPhone, shoppers haven't been all that interested. Its chips are used in digital TVs, PC and analog TVs, and set-top boxes.

3-D TVs have been slow to take off, but Samsung is strengthening its hold on the market, with a 60% share in a recent survey by NPD Group. Some analysts think 3-D TV makers could ship 3.6 million units this year. That's a lot of chips they're going to need. While Samsung, Sony, and LG battle it out for supremacy on sets, it will be Trident and Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) who are likely to find their chips in high demand. With a new CEO on board, Trident may finally begin the turnaround investors have been looking for.

CAPS member FoolNMe2 is hopeful the new CEO can right the ship; 95% of the CAPS members who've rated the chip maker have marked it to outperform the broad market averages.

Monitor how well Trident Microsystems fares by adding the stock to the Fool's free portfolio tracker.

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.