Last year American stocks lost 39%, their worst showing since the Great Depression. This year they re off to a worse start. The S&P 500 index is down 11%, or three percentage points more than it lost in January 2008.

A handful of stocks are soaring, though. There are a precious few that have jumped on takeover news; Thinkorswim Group (SWIM), an online stock-options broker, is up 34% on a $606 million offer from TD Ameritrade (AMTD) . There are companies that started the year with such low share prices that small gains in dollar terms are giant when viewed as percentages. Sprint Nextel (S) is up less than 70 cents a share, but from a mere $1.83. Mostly, though, there are companies that have shown themselves to be less sick than investors had feared.

Supervalu (SVU) fell 25 percentage points more than the market last year, unlike other grocers like Kroger (KR) and Safeway (SWY), which handily outperformed. In general, a shift to frugality and meals eaten at home favor food stores, but Supervalu is deeply indebted. It owes more than $8 billion, due largely to its 2006 purchase of rival Albertson s. That s about twice its stock market value. As credit markets froze late last year, investors worried about the company s ability to refinance debt. But credit looks more available now, and anyhow, less than $300 million of Supervalu s borrowings come due this year. The company is paying debt down at a pace of around $600 million a year.

Despite the stock s jump this year, it fetches just seven times earnings and comes with a dividend yield of 3.7%.

Clothing stores had a brutal 2008 those in the S&P 500 index lost 42%. Aeropostale (ARO) wasn t spared, but while most clothing stores posted giant December declines in sales at longstanding stores, Aeropostale produced a 12% increase. Two things to like about the company s investment prospects: It s debt-free and its shares trade at a modest 10 times earnings. One deal-killing snag: There s no dividend.

Research in Motion (RIMM) has tacked more than 25% onto its stock market value so far this year not bad for a $28 billion company. Analysts say the company shipped 7.2 million of its BlackBerry devices in the last three months of 2008, beating Apple (AAPL) 4.4 million iPhone shipments. Plenty could go wrong for the company: Competitors might improve, mass layoffs could shrink corporate sales and consumers looking to tighten budgets might demand cheaper phones and service plans. But the stock seems affordable for the first time in years. At the start of last year I cautioned readers to sell both RIMM and Apple. The stocks have both lost more than half their value. RIMM s present stock price of 15 times earnings seems fitting, and the company is debt-free.

Have a look at some other big recent gainers below.