A 1-in-100 Investor

The first 100 days in office set the tone for any new president. Similarly, Motley Fool CAPS keeps an eye on members who score 100 points of market outperformance on stock picks in their first 100 days. Here we're looking at our All-Stars who made some of their best stock selections early on and seeing which ones they think will do best next.

One of our highest-rated CAPS members is coloneldebugger, who sports a 93.61 member rating. Below are a few of this member's most recent stock selections and how they were rated.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS.
^Price when call was made.
Current score is how many percentage points a member is beating (lagging) the S&P 500 index from the time of the call.

Let's take a look at what other CAPS members are saying about these stocks and whether they agree with this top player's assessment.

Degree of risk
While Europe looks like it's about to fall apart and the U.S. stands on wobbly legs, there's at least one country that seems to be doing well: Brazil. Economists have just upped their expectations for growth to 6.46% from previous forecasts of 6.3%. Of course, they're also worried about inflation, increasing the expected annual rate for the 18th straight week to 5.67%.

With business booming, Brazilians will be using more electricity, which bodes well for one of the country's largest utilities, CPFL Energia, which has about 13% of the country's power distribution market.

Many investors are attracted to the utility because of its dividend, which currently has a trailing 6.9% yield, but Foolish colleague Ilan Moscovitz suggests treading carefully because of CPFL's free cash flow payout ratio, which comes in at 99%, meaning the company might not be able to fund the dividend going forward. Fool Dan Caplinger also urges caution when pursuing foreign dividend payers, but he has suggested Colombia's Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) may be worth the risk.

CAPS members think CPFL is worth the risk, as 99% of the more than 600 members rating the utility think it will outperform the broad market averages. You can power up your own opinion on the CPFL Energia CAPS page.

Store this away for later
If rising dividends are your thing, you might be interested to know that upscale department store retailer Nordstrom just raised its quarterly payout 25%, to $0.20 a share. Retailers are growing more confident that they'll be able to lure consumers out of hiding. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) CEO Myron Ullman said as much when discussing the company's recent earnings performance.

The strength of the spring sales period has many thinking Nordstrom and others will survive, perhaps even Macy's (NYSE: M), which surprised many and posted its second straight quarterly profit. It even said it was maintaining its $0.05 dividend.

Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) also posted a better-than-expected profit, but its results were more ephemeral, like cotton candy on the tongue. The taste is sweet for a minute but you have a hard time remembering that it was even there. The average amount that shoppers spent in its stores was down in the quarter, something also noticed by Macy's.

Nordstrom also said shoppers weren't spending as much in its stores, but with its shares off about 13% for the past month, the company just might be back in fashion. However, highly rated CAPS All-Star 00100 sounds a note of caution:

Downthumb. Good cash flow. But poor sales growth, high debt ratio and high valuations. High end retailer in a high unemployment environment.

What a gas!
Also raising its dividend was Ship Finance International, an oil tanker operator. But as the dicey global economic picture threatens world demand for oil, Ship Finance's stock has slid.

CAPS member blesto isn't concerned, and believes the company's business model sets it up for long-term growth and profits:

Ship Finance is for all practical purposes a lessor of ships that orders and finances ships, but then they'll contract them out to operators. With long-term charters in place and a steady history of cash flow and dividend payments, they could be an idea suited for income-oriented investors.

A 1-in-100 opportunity
As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once noted, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." At Motley Fool CAPS every investor's opinion counts and because it's free to sign up, why not use this opportunity to take your best shot?