The S&P 500 (SPX) hit its recent intraday low on March 17. Since that day's close, the index has advanced nearly 7%. To see what stocks have led the rally, I created a simple query to pull the returns from March 17 through last night's close. I must admit I was somewhat surprised to find Bear Stearns Co. (BSC) at the top of the list. In terms of trading this year, the stock has lost nearly 90% of its value but it has more than doubled from its mid-March low. Other stocks in the "down-for-the-year/up-from-the-lows" camp include SunPower Corporation (SPWR), Solarfun Power Holdings Co. (SOLF), and Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP). Here are the top stocks from the scan, which has some basic filters to eliminate penny stocks and those that don't trade frequently...

I plan on delving into some of these stocks in more detail with other posts this week but I did think a couple of overall takeaways were worth noting. The first is that there are a number of solar stocks on this list. This group was hot last year and then hit hard earlier this year. To illustrate the volatility in stocks I mentioned above, I compiled the charts at the bottom of the post. The chart on the left shows the price performance since March 17. The chart on the right shows the action since the beginning of the year.

The other point has to do with short interest. I usually look at short interest compared to float and view anything at 10% (or above) as being relatively high. By that definition, most of the stocks on this list have "high" short interest. As I have said in the past, I view short interest as a potential catalyst to exacerbate volatility. The data here is an (admittedly anecdotal) example of that.

The fifth and sixth columns show data on analyst ratings. Of particular interest to me are stocks that either have a low overall following or a low buy percent. Those are the stocks that I view as having the potential to see upgrades.

Charts Courtesy of Thomson Financial