Beat This Stock!

A basketball or baseball game may have only one winner, but investing offers many roads toward profits. We don't need to find the "best" stock year after year to secure our financial future -- we just need to find really good stocks, really consistently. Now, the collective intelligence of our 78,000-plus Motley Fool CAPS investors makes that task easier than ever.

For every high-rated stock on CAPS -- like four-star-rated oil services company Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), riding high on stratospheric oil prices -- there's an even better stock above it in the rankings. Just look for the "Beat This Stock!" button in the top right corner of each stock's CAPS page. Click that button long enough, and you'll climb the CAPS ladder toward the service's No. 1-ranked stock. Along the way, you'll gain a handful of stock ideas that might help you beat the market by an even wider margin than your favorite firm.

So who ranks better than Halliburton? Below are five stocks that ranked higher than the oil services giant in CAPS' investors' opinion, as of this morning. CAPS is a dynamic service, so the list may be different for you:

This is obviously not a list of stocks to buy; instead, it should be a springboard for your own due diligence. Still, let's examine some of the reasons why CAPS investors think these companies' returns will beat Halliburton and the market alike.

Digging for black gold up north
Canadian Natural Resources is another player in the oil and gas industry, but it owns production assets in both fields, along with a significant stake in a richly valued Alberta sands project. It's shifted from a predominant reliance upon natural gas and heavy oil to focus on light, sweet-grade oil. Yet it is still heavily influenced by natural gas, and a proposed cash grab by the Alberta provincial government to extract greater revenue from drillers will have a deep impact on operations at Canadian Natural and other drillers alike.

The royalty payments to the province were supposed to rise 20%, but Canadian Natural says the changes will result in about a 50% increase, which makes drilling there not worth the extra risk involved. As a result, Canadian Natural expects that its natural gas drilling will 44% decrease next year.

Canadian Natural's strong management team has attracted both CAPS players and Bruce Berkowitz, president of Fairholme Capital Management and manager of Fairholme Fund (FUND: FAIRX), who holds a large stake in the driller. CAPS investor Columbus86 saw the value in management early this year:

Well-run company that is very cheap with diversified energy assets in stable areas of the world. Energy prices are on their way back up and I'm hitching a ride with this one.

CAPS player chrisceleste concurs, crediting management for keeping costs contained during a period of growth:

One of only a few oil sands players to keep costs under control during major expansion through good management and hedging. Market doesn't have value of Horizons Oil sands project priced in. Strong leadership

Just beat it!
Is CAPS correct? These companies may rate higher than Halliburton, but will they actually top its performance going forward? Head to Motley Fool CAPS and share your opinion on your favorite stock to beat.

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