At first glance, the market appears to have dodged a bullet. The Dow and the S&P 500 have rallied back to around 17,000 and 2,000, respectively, leading to the impression that the early October sell-off was just a head fake. But real damage was done. A number of individual stocks now remain far below their 52-week highs.

For value investors, stocks that have been tarnished — and not the ones hitting 52-week highs — are a key area of focus. As a bit of confirmation that these stocks are oversold, these investors like to know that company insiders also think shares sport value. And there’s no better way to express that than with cold hard cash. Here are three stocks that now trade well below the 52-week high and have seen recent solid insider buying. (All data supplied by insiderinsights.com).

PolyOne Corp. (NYSE: POL)
This producer of polymers and other specialty plastics is surely feeling the impact of a challenging global market. Despite the addition of a range of new products in recent years, Q3 sales were roughly flat with year-ago results. Thankfully, a rapidly shrinking share count helped pave the way for a solid jump in per share profits. Equally important, current cost-cutting efforts and a share buyback program are expected to pave the way to a 30% jump in 2015 earnings per share to around $2.40 a share. That marks the 20th-straight quarter of double-digit EPS growth.

Still, consensus forecasts of 5% sales growth next year tell you that business conditions are expected to remain challenging in the near-term. Yet this is the kind of business that will flourish when industrial activity resumes in Europe and elsewhere. In support of the bright long-term outlook, CFO John Van Hulle recently acquired roughly $100,000 in stock on the open market. That follows a pair of similar open-market purchases in September, with an aggregate value of $600,000.

Jones Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: JONE)
Oil prices, which were in freefall just a few weeks ago, appear to have found a floor in the low $80’s (for West Texas Crude). If OPEC agrees to cut output at a late November meeting, as energy traders are coming to expect, then prices will likely stabilize in the current range for the foreseeable future. Still, the damage to the sector has been immense. Energy exploration firms have seen their share prices decimated, though few insiders have stepped in to support their stock. (Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) and EP Energy Corp. (NYSE: EPE) are notable exceptions.)

In the small-cap space, Jones Energy insiders are seizing on the share piece weakness. On October 24, a pair of them acquired a combined $1.5 million in stock. The timing is a bit curious as Jones Energy is set to weigh in with quarterly results on November 5. The insiders may be signaling that Jones Energy’s business plan — and cash flow projections — remain largely intact, despite the pullback in crude oil from $100 earlier this summer. The current share price represents a big gap down from recent highs and the 2013 IPO price.

Home Loan Servicing Solutions, Ltd (Nasdaq: HLSS)
Insiders at this mortgage servicer must be convinced that Wall Street grossly under-estimates the staying power of the company’s business model. They began buying shares early in the year in the low $20’s, kept on buying as shares fell below $20 this summer and HLSS’ president John Van Vlack just picked up another $176,000 in stock at $17.64 a share, right near the 52-week low. These insiders can at least take comfort in the fact that their newly-acquired shares carry a double-digit dividend yield.

The key question: Is such a yield sustainable? Yes, mostly because management is pursuing a diversification strategy, adding other assets to its balance sheet, such as re-performing loans, which were once non-performing loans but are once again generating monthly mortgage payments, and early buy-out loans.

To be sure, the expansion isn’t likely to fuel growth, but instead will likely stave off any declines in the core mortgage servicing business.  Analysts at Merrill Lynch believe HLSS will generate a consistent $2 a share annual dividend and, once such sustainability becomes more evident, shares will merit a higher price-to-earnings multiple. That’s why they see shares rising from a recent $18-to-$26. In effect, investors can lock in the double-digit yield now and get 40% upside as well.

Risks to Consider: These are small and mid-cap stocks, and investors have been favoring large cap stocks in recent months. A slower economy would accelerate the flight to the perceived safety of larger companies.

Action to Take –> All three of these companies hold appeal. Home Loan Servicing offers a compelling yield with upside, while Jones Energy appears to be sharply oversold — assuming oil prices stay in the current range. PolyOne is shaping up as a solid long-term investment on the eventual upturn in global industrial activity.

These stocks are unloved, but our list of “Forever Stocks” is quite the opposite. My colleague Dave Forest found a group of companies that have such strong fundamentals and growth potential that you can buy shares and virtually hold them forever. You can find the name and ticker symbols of a few of the companies by clicking here.