With all the volatility in the markets today, there's no shortage of market seers attempting to call a bottom. Bernanke called a bottomnot once, but twice. Heck, even Keanu Reeves laid out what a world-ending market bottomlooks like.

Investors should consider buying stocks after a big decline, when pessimism has unduly beaten good companies down to attractive prices. That's why we here at the Fool -- and 140,000-plus investors like us -- look to the Motley Fool CAPScommunity to help sniff out the real opportunities from languishing companies driven by speculation.

A real bottom, or another leg down?
Of course, there's no foolproof method for timing a market bottom. But CAPS has a great balance of both quantitative and qualitative resources available on 5,300 stocks, and even a nifty stock screening toolto help investors quickly zero in on potential investment opportunities.

I've used the CAPS screener to filter out $100 million-plus companies that have seen their stock price appreciate by at least 15% in the past 13 weeks even while they remain at least 40% below their 52-week highs. These stocks also have both a positive return on equity and earnings per share over the past 12 months; these criteria limit the results to companies that have a history of delivering results regardless of stock gyrations. If you'd like, run this screen yourself-- just keep in mind that the results may change as the market does.

Company

CAPS Rating
(out of 5)

13-Week
Price Change

% Below 52-week High

Satyam Computer Services

****

24.8%

62%

CardioNet (Nasdaq: BEAT)

***

18.7%

75.3%

Associated Banc-Corp (Nasdaq: ASBC) Continued...