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Every month, the Consumer Confidence Board and other agencies poll consumers to gauge their future buying decisions. As seen from the chart below, consumer confidence is at levels not seen since the early 1990s (source: Briefing.com): click to enlarge

The auto industry is in a tremendous drought. For those who believe the industry will emerge from this drought sometime in the next few years, this is a great time to pick up some bargains in this industry. On Saturday, we discussed some criteria to look for when determining if a stock in this industry would make a good long-term investment.

When we discussed operating leases we saw that as per current accounting rules, the debt shown on a company's balance sheet does not adequately present a company's true debt level. Unfortunately, off-balance sheet debt doesn't stop at operating leases.

Value investors like to take advantage of markets like these, where cyclical dips allow investors to buy companies on the cheap. One particularly hard hit sector is the auto industry, where monthly new light vehicle sales recently hit a 15-year low.

LCA-Vision (LCAV) provides laser vision corrective surgery at 76 locations in the United States. Demand for this surgery comes from those wishing to lose the glasses and contact lenses and get back to 20/20 vision. LCAV's stock has taken a huge beating as a result of the tough economic times, falling all the way from $45 last year to $3 this year.

Every quarter, public companies are required to hold conference calls to discuss their most recent results. You can usually access a recording of a company's last conference call on the investor relations section of its website.

LCA-Vision (LCAV) and TLC Vision (TLCV) compete in an otherwise highly fragmented laser vision correction industry. Because the surgery is elective, expensive, and not generally covered by insurance companies, demand for the surgery is cyclical. As a result, this is a tough time for these companies, and the market has punished the stocks.

Many manufacturers of various paper and packaging products are trading at massive discounts to their 52-week highs. Companies such as International Paper (IP) (which we discussed here), Catalyst Paper (CTLUF.PK), Domtar (UFS), MeadWestvaco (MWV) and Sappi Ltd. (SPP) are all even trading below their book values.

International Paper (IP) is a paper and packaging manufacturer and distributor. Its stock price has fallen some 60% since last year, as it has faced tremendous increases in input costs and more recently faces a slowing global economy.

FedEx (FDX) and UPS (UPS) have both faced tremendous challenges in the last year. FedEx is under fire for employee/contractor classifications, and both companies have faced soaring fuel prices and a slowing global economy. As such, the market may be punishing these very profitable companies, thereby offering long-term investors the opportunity to buy in at decent prices.