Hot Stocks You're Buying Now

Welcome back to another Foolish review of the hottest stocks as ranked by Motley Fool CAPS. We're looking at the three best-performing industries over the past 30 days and your favorite long and short candidates in each.

Last week, uranium stocks were too hot to handle. But not this week. This time, firms that do business in Venezuela are winning like that Sanjaya kid on American Idol. Stocks under the thumb of president Hugo Chavez are, as a group, up 28.6% over the past 30 days.

Who are the other hotties? Have a look:

• You'll have to jet from Latin America to Europe to find the second-best performers. They're sipping Stoli in Russia and, as a group, enjoying an 11.6% gain over the past 30 days.
• Third best are the soft drink sultans. Sugar still sells for stocks in this sector, which, as a group, are up 11.4% over the past 30 days.

According to you, our Foolish readers, the best stocks in these industries to own now -- i.e., those with four or five of the maximum five stars in CAPS -- are:

And your favorite short candidates -- i.e., those rated with one or two stars in CAPS -- are:

Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think by signing up for CAPS today. It's 100% free to participate.

Cap off your day with related CAPS Foolishness:

• Go for value.
• Or for growth.
• Or for dividends.
• Or for microcaps.
• Or for global gainers.

Or take a look at Wall Street's wish list.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers, who is ranked 784 out of more than 25,200 in CAPS, didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story at the time of publication. All of his portfolio holdings can be found at Tim's Fool profile. His thoughts on hot stocks, Foolishness, and investing in general may be found in his blog. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy is hotter than city asphalt in the summer heat.