The CAPS Screen: 5 Stocks on a Roll

Finding the next big stock is both satisfying and profitable. Like Nirvana for those early on the grunge scene, or, in my case, Modest Mouse, it's even more rewarding if you can discover greatness before everyone else.

With that in mind, I used our new CAPS screening tool to find stocks with growing bullish sentiment. Following a screen similar to this one last year would have turned up Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU), netting you a 168% gain. Specifically, I looked for stocks whose CAPS ratings have risen in the past two months to four or five stars (out of five), from one, two, or three stars.

They also have:

• Market caps greater than $100 million.
• At least 200 active CAPS picks.

Remember, in the first year for which we have data, newly-minted four-star companies crushed all other categories, with an average gain of 41%.                                                                                               

Company	Share Price	Sector	Market Cap
Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE)	$21.42	Technology	$1.9 billion
Goldcorp (NYSE: GG)	$43.86	Basic Materials	$32.1 billion
ImClone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL)	$40.53	Health Care	$3.5 billion
McMoRan Exploration (NYSE: MMR)	$26.58	Basic Materials	$1.4 billion
Mosaic (NYSE: MOS)	$131.12	Basic Materials	$59.9 billion

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of July 8, 2008. Screen period from May 8 – July 8.

Of course, screens are merely a first step in the stock-selection process. After all, there's no long-term use in picking the next Chumbawamba. So come and join our 110,000-person-strong (and growing) Motley Fool CAPS community in finding the best up-and-comers.

For more Foolery:

• How I Tripled My Money in a Year
• Tomorrow’s Monster Stocks
• The CAPS Screen: 10 Stocks Ready to Run