Apr. 5--After 17 months of "rainy days," Standard & Poor's investment guru Sam Stovall last month determined that a remarkable 246 stocks in the S&P Composite 1500 had dropped below $5 a share.

Stovall calls these "umbrella stocks," issues that sell for less than the cost of umbrellas hawked on the streets of New York during a downpour. The $5 level is significant because many financial institutions are not allowed to hold such cheap issues and jettison them when the price drops.

Also, many financial advisers cannot solicit the purchase of sub-$5 shares.

The prices of Oklahoma stocks have suffered similar price collapses. More than a dozen state stocks listed on major exchanges traded Friday for less than $5 a share. But low stock prices, combined with a recent rally on Wall Street, have produced something else we haven't seen in a while: opportunity.

"We are seeing some cheap stocks," Tulsa money manager Fred Russell said. "They're compelling. They're attractive."

What happened? As the economy and the markets began to shudder last year, investors started redeeming their holdings with hedge funds and mutual funds. Those funds were forced to liquidate holdings across the board to raise cash. As the market dropped, traders dumped shares to meet margin calls while overleveraged institutions also were selling to raise cash.

"They weren't taking analytical views of each security. It was mass liquidation," said Bob Rader, senior vice president of Capital West Securities in Oklahoma City. "There was no mercy."

Tom Kight, an Oklahoma City oilman and active stock trader, said he recently attended a meeting with money managers who were rattled by the market collapse.

"I have never seen so much pessimism," Kight said. "It was like the world was going to come to an end."

Local stocks fall The price drops for some Oklahoma-based stocks seen since last summer have been staggering.

Local investors were clamoring for shares of SandRidge Energy when its stock went public in late 2007 at $26. Those who obtained the stock were rewarded when the price soared to $69.41 in June. But the bear market and falling energy prices pummeled the shares, which slipped below $5 last month. It closed Friday at $7.93.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. shares tumbled from $74 to less than $10 before a recent rally pushed the stock back above $20 a share.

GMX Resources, an Oklahoma City energy company, dropped from $88.35 to $5.57. It last sold for $7.24.

Some state companies lost ground for a reason. At least three executives from Quest Resources have been accused of financial misdealing involving company money.