An investor who looks for bargains among stocks whose prices have recently dropped dramatically. The investor believes that a price drop is temporary or is an overreaction to recent bad news and a recovery is soon to follow.
A bottom fisher may attempt to find stocks that the market has undervalued through fundamental analysis. Bottom fishers may also be more active during prolonged bear markets where there may be stocks getting hammered through panic selling. Unfortunately, it's difficult to tell the difference between a bargain and a stock that has fallen for a fundamental reason.