Of all the insight I've heard over these past crazy months, the most telling came from an investor who appeared on CNBC last fall and, being entirely serious, advised, "There're only two positions to be in right now: cash, and fetal."

I get it. Even with the recent rally, it's ugly out there. Many companies that overlevered their balance sheets are permanently impaired and will likely never fully rebound. AIG (NYSE: AIG) comes to mind. We had an unprecedented boom; now we're slowly trying to crawl out of an unprecedented bust. That's how markets work.

Even so,  history tells us time and time again that market panics and forced sell-offs indiscriminately throw the good out with the bad. The "sell-now-ask-questions-later" mood of global investors is providing bargain-hunting investors with the sort of  opportunities we haven't seen in decades.  Use that to your advantage.

Using the wisdom of our Motley Fool CAPScommunity of 140,000 members, I've hunted down a few dirt cheap, high-quality companies. Have a look:

Company

Recent Share Price

Forward P/E Ratio

5-Year

Expected Growth Rate

TTM Return on Equity

Dividend Yield

CAPS Rating  
(out of 5)

Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB)

$32.39

12.61

9.1%

71.6%

3.1%

****

Lorillard (NYSE: LO)

$76.85

12.08

8%

122.6%

5.2%

****

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)

$188.17

10.45 Continued...