The only thing better than coming up with a great stock idea on your own is having someone else do it for you. Now, thanks to the Borg-like Motley Fool CAPS investor-intelligence database, you have 26,000-plus fellow investors rating thousands of stocks and offering their pitches for your perusal -- all for free.

So let's leverage that community brain to find the top 10 highest-rated stocks in the CAPS database from the basic materials sector. Basic materials, for the uninitiated, comprise the energy, metals, mining, and chemical industries:

Company

Market Cap

Price / Earnings*

Unit (NYSE:UNT)

$2.6 billion

8.2

TGC Industries

$156 million

18.3

W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI)

$2.3 billion

11

Superior Energy Services (NYSE:SPN)

$3 billion

15.5

Carpenter Technology

$3.1 billion

15.5

TransGlobe Energy

$229 million

10.7

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ)

$31.7 billion

16.3

Energy Metals (NYSE:EMU)

$1 billion

N/A

Talisman Energy (NYSE:TLM)

$20.3 billion

12.9

Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE:MMP)

$3 billion

25.2

Median

$2.8 billion

15.5
*Data based on trailing-12 month normalized earnings. Data provided by Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

Given sustained high energy prices, it shouldn't surprise anyone to find energy companies dominating the list. Let's zoom in a bit on the top two in terms of market cap. Both, oddly enough, are Calgary-based oil and gas explorers: Canadian Natural Resources and Talisman Energy.

Dividend Yield

Return on Invested Capital

Enterprise Value / EBITDA

Canadian Natural Resources

0.5%

15.4%

7.2

Talisman Energy

0.7%

18.3%

5.3
Data provided by Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

Do either of these companies deserve your investment dollars? You'll have to do your own due diligence and find out. Hey, I only promised ideas! With 4,322 stocks in the database and 708,000-plus recommendations, though, CAPS won't let you won't run dry on fresh ideas anytime soon.

Sign up for CAPS today. It's absolutely free, Fool!

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Foolish editor Joe Magyer has an All-Star rating in Motley Fool CAPS -- and obsessively confirms this at least once an hour. His CAPS profile is available for your viewing pleasure. Joe does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article. Unit is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation. The Fool has a far-from-basic disclosure policy.