Making Cents in Penny Stocks

The occasional shower of pennies from heaven might do our bank accounts some good, but we Fools can't say the same for penny stocks. The world of penny stocks is often full of manipulation and deceit, making it harder for investors to separate its few good offerings from the multitude best ignored.

Still, many investors dabble at the low end of the stock-price spectrum. At Motley Fool CAPS, we award the "Pennies" title to investors who rate stocks trading in the single digits more than half the time. Believe it or not, you'll find some of the best CAPS All-Stars among those members.

Pinching pennies
This week, we'll look at some of the low-priced investments these All-Stars have praised. If the best investors regularly scanning this end of the market have singled out these companies, we might want to turn our umbrellas upside-down -- or run for cover!

Here's the latest list of low-priced stocks with All-Star support:

*Price when the outperform call was made.

Your two cents’ worth
You could say it’s a duel between ratings agencies. Last week, Standard & Poor's raised the ratings of trucking company YRC Worldwide because it had negotiated a wage-cut agreement with the Teamsters. Yesterday, Fitch Ratings responded by downgrading YRC's debt ratings because of the economic funk and negotiations it was involved in with its lenders.

The U.S. freight market has been exceptionally weak. Trailer maker Wabash National (NYSE:WNC), for example, suspended its dividend recently in an effort to raise cash and reduce costs, potentially saving it some $5.5 million this year. And CAPS member mofays doesn't see the picture improving anytime soon, finding YRC to be a tunnel of trouble you could drive a truck through:

volital fuel supplies; much pressure from contractual issues, namely health,welfare and pension payments ( $540 per man per week!). Pension liabilities prevent divestiture of underperforming divisions. YRC is draining profits from Regional carriers to shore up stock picture. Bill Zollars appears to be a liability not a solution at this point.As business conditions continue to erode, they are a leading indicator of trouble ahead.

It's not surprising to find energy concerns like Pengrowth Energy Trust falling along with the price of oil and gas. Yet Pengrowth and other Canadian Royal Trusts such as Harvest Energy Trust (NYSE:HTE) remain attractive to investors because of the sizeable and steady cash payouts they make.

CAPS member Kowboy01 realizes that with lower energy prices, the stock price of the Canroys will be lower as well, but he views this as an opportunity to buy them on the cheap in anticipation of the rebound:

The price is going to follow oil prices, of course, but that simply allows you to acquire an attractive yield at a low price. I will quickly end this pick when interest rates eventually take off (but that's probably a year or more down the road).

Penny for your thoughts
What do you think? Should we fill up the change jar with these penny stocks, or ignore 'em like a discarded coin on the street? 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. Consult our free CAPS investor-intelligence community, where your two cents count as much as anyone else's.

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