3 Stocks Hitting Low Notes

When a stock hits a fresh low, it can either signal a dirt cheap dream stock or a dreadful stock to avoid. Separating the wheat from the chaff is difficult, but finding well-run companies at bargain-basement prices is a great way to accumulate a fortune over the long-run.

With that in mind, we'll use the aggregate intelligence of the 110,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS to see what the community is saying about stocks hitting 52-week lows today. The community's approval (signaled by four- and five-star ratings) could suggest that further research is in order.

Here are three such stocks:

Company	Today’s Low	Industry	CAPS Rating	Fools Saying Outperform
Constellation Energy Partners (NYSE: CEP)	$13.89	Energy	****	122 of 127
Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW)	$22.40	Industrial	*****	1126 of 1148
Biovail (NYSE: BVF)	$9.38	Drugs	****	449 of 478

Source: Motley Fool CAPS, as of Aug. 13, 2008.

Five-star energy companies:

• XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO) -- stock price is 1.1% cheaper than last year.
• Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR) -- up 63.9% in the past year.

Five-star industrial companies:

• ABB (NYSE: ABB) -- up 8.4% in the last year.
• Ampco-Pittsburgh (NYSE : AP) -- up 4.4% in the past year.

Copyright © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate.