It seems that fears of a double-dip recession and a potentially contagious crisis in the Eurozone have yet to tarnish the perennial bullishness of analysts, who largely expect 2012 to see "big gains" in world stocks, according to a recent survey by Reuters. This follows a loss of around $3.7 trillion in world stock markets for 2011 to date.
Also from the poll: The Dow Jones Industrial Average and South Korea's KOSPI are the only two indexes expected to finish 2011 in the green. And by midway through 2012, analysts only expect 7 of 18 major stock indexes to top their 2010 closing levels.
Given the recent bearishness and uncertainty saturating the market, the poll's optimism may seem odd, but there are a few explanations. Many investors believe stocks are undervalued now relative to historical averages. Investors are also holding a lot of cash today, which can support a stock rally if investors felt a renewed desire for risky assets.
Still, investors should remember that significant uncertainties are weighing down markets today.
To help you explore rebound ideas, we analyzed the 200 worst performing S&P500 stocks over the last year.
But which of these S&P 500 losers are expected to see the biggest rebounds over the coming months?
That's a tough question to answer, but for clues we collected short interest data and identified a list of S&P500 losers that have seen a significant decrease in shares shorted over the last month.
Short-sellers seem to think there's more upside than downside to these names -- is this a bullish signal for 2012?
Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis. (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)
List compiled by Eben Esterhuizen, CFA:
1. Alpha Natural Resources
2. PulteGroup
3. Monster Worldwide
4. SUPERVALU
5. Hospira
6. Vulcan Materials
7. Charles Schwab
8. R.R. Donnelley & Sons
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
Kapitall's Eben Esterhuizen and Alexander Crawford do not own any of the shares mentioned above. Short data sourced from Yahoo! Finance.