5 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 cry about 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 who populate the Motley Fool CAPS community also like a bargain, apparently. Below, you'll find five stocks whose shares are selling at least 50% below their 52-week highs, but which still earn top 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
Videogaming seems to be one of the most resilient industries these days. Market researchers at NPD Research found that the video game market grew by $3 billion, or 10%, in November. Sales of Nintendo's Wii far outstripped the Xbox 360, which in turn clobbered the PlayStation 3. While the good times haven't been spread evenly -- Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), for example, reported it won't hit its own financial projections -- CAPS member JohnMcCloy figures that Activision Blizzard's exceptionally strong roster of franchises  makes its price at these levels a steal:

This is like purchasing [Apple] @ 10 bucks years ago. ...
Major Franchise Games like COD and Guitar Hero Your getting 2for 1 with Blizzard and World of Warcraft and the subscription Costs ...
Starcraft will be larger than WOW
The company has 0 Debt whatsoever Brick and mortar going out of business they will be able to sell all their games online and downloadable in a few years.

Surgical robotics is an innovative frontier that Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) has been successfully exploiting. Perhaps slightly less well known in the field is Accuray, which manufacturers the non-invasive radiosurgery CyberKnife for targeting tumors.

CAPS member thechumley likes the technology behind Accuray, but its recent delay in filing financial reports raises concerns for the investor:

Look, I like their platform and work to reduce the cost of installation of cyberknife- essential in this environment. However, the delay of their 3q earning due to "accounting" irregularities, mistakes, et al would make me recommend staying away from this thing until that is all sorted out. A PE of 46, even with a growth stock is scary in this contracting economy.

Have half a mind
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.

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