One of the best ways to profit in the stock market is to look where others aren't. Wall Street's convenient inattention to a whole slew of promising companies is an opportunity to make big winners of small investors.

In my search for stocks the market has missed for years -- like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which is up 5,937% in a single decade -- I used our new CAPS screening tool to discover promising companies Wall Street may be overlooking. Below are five companies with no more than four CAPS-rated analysts covering the stock.

They also have:

  • Market caps between $250 million and $2 billion.
  • At least 300 total calls from our entire CAPS community.
  • Five-star ratings, the highest possible, from our CAPS community.

Remember, in the first year for which we have data, five-star companies outperformed with an average gain of nearly 28%.

Company

Share Price

Sector

Market Cap

CAPS-rated Wall Street Coverage

Arena Resources (NYSE:ARD)

$45.44

Basic materials

$1.6 billion

3

Brigham Exploration (NASDAQ:BEXP)

$12.98

Basic materials

$600 million

4

China Medical Technologies (NASDAQ:CMED)

$43.07

Health care

$1.2 billion

3

Oilsands Quest (AMEX:BQI)

$5.63

Basic materials

$1.3 billion

3

Grey Wolf (AMEX:GW)

$8.75

Basic materials

$1.6 billion

4

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of July 9.

Of course, screens are only a first step in the stock selection process. True Fools use due diligence, because they know that not every underfollowed company will necessarily become one of the market's 10 best stocks.

Come and join us on Motley Fool CAPS to let the collective wisdom of our 110,000-person-strong CAPS community help you make your investment decisions. Check it out -- it's free and fun to participate.

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