I have been tinkering with some of my value screens in search of bargains. I am still not bullish on the market -- rising unemployment, a weak economy and the conflict between Russia and Georgia are all cause for concern. In spite of all this, being of a deep-value bent, I am always looking for stocks that represent extreme bargains.

I recently ran a slightly modified version of one of my regular screens. Instead of just below book and insider ownership, I added heavy insider buying as well. I also dropped the low debt requirements and focused on those that had heavy buying as an indicator that officers and directors believed the business would recover strongly. (A complete table of stocks this screen produced is at the end of this column.)

This may be a tough time to think about financial firms, but I found Main Street Capital to be intriguing. The company operates almost as a private-equity firm, and makes both equity and debt commitments to clients (with most of the debt containing an equity kicker).

Main Street deals with an incredibly diverse range of clients, including tire stores, rehab centers and coffeehouses, as well as a wide range of various material and industrial companies. The stock trades below book value and is profitable on an earnings and cash flow basis.

The stock is down about 25% in the past 52 weeks, and insiders have shown that they believe the stock will rebound. In recent months, three insiders have purchased a little over 50,000 shares of Main Street Capital. As a bonus, Main Street pays a dividend that is yielding 11%.

Not surprisingly, two banks made the screen as well. Sun Bancorp has a lot of the same problems other banks have experienced so far this year. Loan loss provisions are rising and net charge-offs have increased as well.

But the bank has an equity-to-assets ratio of almost 9 and capital ratios that are far into "safe" territory. SNBC recently sold off its Delaware branches to focus on its key New Jersey marketplace.

Insiders clearly believe the stock will improve over time. There have been 15 recent insider purchases, totaling more than 71,800 shares. The stock is cheap here, as you would expect for a bank stock, trading at just 75% of book value.

Institutional and activist investors have noticed as well: Jeffrey Gendell and his Tontine Partners hedge fund have added shares and own about 9% of the stock. Noted quant firm Renaissance Tech and Goldman Sachs have also bought Sun Bancorp stock in the past few months.

California-based Heritage Commerce has also not escaped the problems of the industry. The bank also has great capital ratios and an equity-to-assets ratio of almost 10. Despite the California exposure, HTBK is relatively well insulated by its presence in Silicon Valley. The shares trade at 10 times earnings and 90% of book value. Insiders have shown their faith with 15 purchases totaling more than 100,000 shares.

My favorite stock on the list is Lodgian . The company owns 44 hotels with more than 800 rooms. Like other hotel stocks I have mentioned, Lodgian is more than holding its own in the current economy.

For the second quarter, revenues were up slightly, but the real story was cost control. EBITDA rose more than 17% as corporate overhead expenses were cut by over $2 million in the three months. Lodgian finished one share buyback that reduced the share count by 10%. That was followed by the announcement of a new buyback program of about 172,000 shares.

The hotelier is adjusting its portfolio, with nine out of 44 properties in the "held for sale" category. That could further bolster the balance sheet if proceeds are not reinvested in new properties.

Shares of Lodgian are down more than 30% in the last year and are cheap here, trading at about 88% of book value. Insiders think so: They have purchased 111,000 shares in the open market. Several well-known value and private-equity firms also hold large stakes, including Oak Tree Capital and Blackstone .

A caveat -- all of these stocks have very small market caps and are traded very thinly, so tread lightly. Such conditions make for volatile holdings.

I still do not like the overall market, in spite of recent gains. In fact, I will almost certainly short the broad market if it rises further. But there are some stocks that are just too cheap not to own, regardless of the market. These all seem to make the cut.

Below Book Value, Heavy Insider Buying
Company Name	Ticker	Current price	% Held by Insiders	Price/Book	Debt/Equity	Market Caps ($ millions)	# of Insider Buyers (12 weeks)
American Safety Insurance	ASI	$16.77	11.2	0.77	N/A	$178	3
Capital SW	CSWC	$131.64	28.4	0.88	N/A	$512	4
Grubb & Ellis	GBE	$3.60	27	0.59	0.14	$235	5
JER Investors Trust	JRT	$6.65	12.2	0.67	N/A	$172	4
Lodgian	LGN	$8.49	26.6	0.96	N/A	$187	10
Meadowbrook Insurance	MIG	$7.12	16.0	0.85	0.18	$264	5
Main Street Capital	MAIN	$12.90	24.7	1.00	N/A	$116	3
Presidential Life	PLFE	$18.40	26.7	0.91	N/A	$544	4
Sun Bancorp	SNBC	$12.75	36.9	0.77	0.12	$276	4
Source: Zacks Investment Research

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Please note that due to factors including low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float, we consider Main Street Capital, Sun Bancorp, Heritage Commerce and Lodgian to be small-cap stocks. You should be aware that such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information, and that postings such as this one can have an effect on their stock prices.