For investors with an iron stomach and a penchant for dumpster-diving, microcap play Meade Instruments Corp. (Nasdaq:MEAD) may be worth a closer look.

The recent announcement by the Irvine, Calif.-based company that it expects to undergo another year of restructuring has resulted in investors dumping the stock in droves. Since trading as high as $1.69 a share back in February, shares of the long-time designer and manufacturer of telescopes and binoculars have plummeted nearly 60%. At Monday's close, Meade fetched just $0.66 a share, which works out to a market capitalization of about $15 million.

This is a far cry from several years ago when Meade shares crossed the $3 level on excitement that two activist investors had joined the struggling company’s board of directors and a new CEO had been installed to lead Meade’s turnaround. Since then, Meade has managed to cut costs, reduce inventory and shed non-core assets, but this has been a slow process beset by manufacturing problems and related supply chain issues. To compound matters, Meade has had to try and engineer this turnaround during a weak retail environment. In April, Meade sold its Weaver and Redfield sports optic brands for $8 million in cash, followed by the sale earlier this month of its Simmons brand for $7 million in cash. With these sales, Meade will focus on its core business of Meade-branded astronomical telescopes . . .

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