Stocks Everyone Says to Buy Now

Some stocks simply have such great potential that "everyone" knows they're a good buy today. Yeah, we wish.

If we knew beforehand that Ultra Petroleum (NYSE: UPL) was going to return more than 4,200% since it went public in early 2001, we'd have mortgaged the house to the hilt. If we had the inside scoop that Hansen Natural was a 25,000% winner over the past decade, we'd have mortgaged your house, too!

In fact, if investing were so easy, we'd all be millionaires. It's easy to see after the fact which companies have been the winning investments. What we need is a way to know beforehand which companies will become the next Microsoft or Wal-Mart, growing tens of thousands of percent in value over the years. But there hasn't been a way.

Until now, that is.

More than 74,000 professional and novice investors have rated stocks on Motley Fool CAPS, and we can check in on their opinions about which stocks will beat the market and which will lose to it. While it's often a tug-of-war between the bulls and the bears, we've identified dozens of stocks that members of CAPS have unanimously chosen to outperform the market.

That's no small feat. Thousands upon thousands of companies have been rated, and convincing arguments can, and are, made on both sides. For example, Motley Fool Stock Advisor and Inside Value recommendation Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) is a well-respected, top-rated stock where more than 1,200 CAPS investors have rated the company. Yet while some 1,231 of them think the stock will beat the market, that still means there are a couple of dozen CAPS investors who don't.

So when you come across a stock that everyone thinks is going to outperform, you've got something special, and we as investors ought to take notice.

Here are a handful of those "obvious" investments.

As always, none of the companies on this list should be considered formal recommendations, but rather starting points for further research. What we've done is narrowed your workload by focusing on the companies that CAPS investors are universally expecting to beat the market.

Lighting up South America
Electric utility company Enersis provides electricity to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Latin American economies, particularly those of Brazil and Chile, have been at the forefront of expansion and make up a powerhouse of growth opportunities going forward. It's that sort of potential that attracts CAPS investors such as altimatsmile.

Strong solid corporation in a volatile yet high yield market. Predictions for growth are modest and steady. A good buy to take advantage of the Latin America boom.

Top-rated All-Star TheGarcipian noted early this year that while the company looks as though it has a lot of debt on its books, that's actually typical for a utility. It's otherwise a solid company.

What's not to like about an electric utility company in one of the fastest growing areas of the world: South America? Ok, yeah, there's a lot of debt, not something I personally like, but that's fairly standard for a utility. ... Lots of volatility possible for a foreign stock, but long term should prove this one out to be a winner.

Enersis had seen operational profits improve as a result of a series of mergers in 2006, along with an improvement in tariffs. Unlike in Venezuela, where the government has moved to nationalize industries, Enersis operates in countries with relatively stable governments and policies conducive to private enterprise. That should allow it to continue to flourish.

Let's hear from you
How about your take on these or other "obvious" winning investments? Is this the chance to light up profits from the next "buy now" stock?  If you want to add your 2 cents, sign up to join the Motley Fool CAPS community, which is 100% free.