4 Superball Stocks: InterOil Corporation (USA) (IOC), CVR Partners LP (UAN), Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (RNF)

When stocks fall fast and far, they sometimes set themselves up for remarkable rebounds. The following equities suffered dramatic drops over the past week. With help from the 180,000 members of Motley Fool CAPS, we’ll see whether any of them have the potential to bounce back.

It’s been a while, but thanks to last week’s sell-off, we once again have a chance to stand beneath Mr. Market’s silverware drawer in hopes of snagging a bargain. Let’s meet today’s contenders.

Companies are selected by screening on finviz.com for abrupt 5% or greater price drops last week. Recent price and 52-week-high data provided by finviz.com. CAPS ratings from Motley Fool CAPS.

Five super falls — one superball
After 10 straight days of hitting record highs, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finally took a breather on Friday, falling 25 points — but still ending up 0.8% for the week. After a run like this one, you’d think most investors would be sitting pretty right now and counting the money from two straight weeks of capital gains.

You might even be right about that — yet “most investors” isn’t the same thing as “all investors.” Fact is, the owners of more than 2,700 separate stocks actually exited last week poorer than they went into it, as their stocks declined in value. But why?

The answers aren’t always clear. For example, InterOil Corporation (USA) (NYSE:IOC) recently got a vote of confidence in its Elk and Antelope natural gas fields, when the host government of Papua New Guinea confirmed that it was taking a big stake in the projects. The stock received an upgrade from TheStreet.com last week as well, and a positive mention from Westlake Securities on Wednesday, yet the shares shed 7% of their value last week regardless. Similarly, shares of cancer-vaccine maker Dendreon are down $0.50 — 8.5% — despite reporting no bad news whatsoever last week.

In contrast, while bad news was similarly absent at Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE:RNF) last week, there’s at least some basis for the selling we saw there. The fertilizer producer is due to report earnings on Tuesday, and while analysts forecast earnings growth over last year, investors may be worried Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE:RNF) will fail to grow as much as the Street forecasts. Of course, that doesn’t explain the similar sell-off at fellow nitrogen specialist CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN). That won reported earnings last month, beat estimates then, and isn’t due for another earnings report until late April. Is that fair?