The one-year anniversary of the trough of the great bear market of 2009 has finally arrived, and investors who had the courage and foresight to invest when everyone was running the other direction were rewarded with a 68% return off the bottom.

While this is a fantastic overall return, there are a host of stocks that returned triple and even quadruple digit percentage returns. Many of these stocks were left for dead; the ones the pundits told you were gone.

Best Bear Market StocksStein Mart (Nasdaq:SMRT) was one of these stocks, hitting a bottom of $1.00 per share in March 2009. Business was in a free fall, as consumers cut back purchases to only essential items. This was reflected in Stein Mart's same store sales for the fourth quarter ending Jan 31, 2009, which fell a stunning 12%. The stock has since recovered to the $9 per share range.

Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq:FITB) is up 840% from the bottom last March. [Read the full article]

But despite the dollar's retreat, many other commodity-related ETFs continued deeper into oversold territory. This includes the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX - News) and the very oversold SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD - News), which has closed in oversold territory for five consecutive trading days.

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For decades, mature, established companies that pay consistent dividends have been relied on to provide investors with a steady stream of income. Utility companies and industrial conglomerates are often placed in this category, but almost any large-cap company that has paid a sizable dividend consistently over the years can probably be counted on to continue doing so. [Read the full article]

Management believes that 900 rigs are needed to keep production flat in North America. The rig count is currently at that level, and since most exploration and production companies are planning to increase drilling in 2010 over 2009, management fears an oversupply situation depressing prices.

Sandridge Energy is pursuing this conversion towards oil through both exploration and development, and the company has 50% of its 2.6 Tcfe of proved reserves composed of oil at end of 2009. 

Permian BasinSandridge Energy has a large position in the Permian Basin, located in Texas and New Mexico. This is one of the largest and oldest producing areas in the United States, and is considered a mature area by almost every measure.

Sandridge Energy has 150,000 net acres here, and is producing about 12,000 barrels per day from its properties. [Read the full article]