A 1-in-100 Investor

Just as the first 100 days in office sets the tone for any new president, Motley Fool CAPS keeps an eye as well on how investors do in their first 100 days. Some of our best -- we call them All-Stars -- have achieved scores of 100 on stock selections in their first 100 days on CAPS. Since data shows that the best stocks to buy and sell have gotten top-ratings, might we also assume that when the best players rate the best stocks, there is a correlation?

One of our highest-rated CAPS members is MysterInsidious, who sports a nearly perfect 99.98 member rating. A member since January 2007, MysterInsidious currently has 191 active picks on CAPS out of more than 1,150 stock picks made. Achieving 84% accuracy, MysterInsidious has also attracted 131 "groupies," CAPS players who've listed this leading investor as one of their favorites.

Here are a few of this top member's most recent stock selections and how they were rated.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS; *Price when call was made. Current score is how many points a member is beating (lagging) the S&P 500 index from the time of the call.

Let's take a look at what other CAPS members are saying about some of these stocks and whether they agree with this top player's assessment.

Corning
Optimism has been one of the hallmarks of Corning's guidance, particularly when it noted that TV sets were immune from the depredations of a declining economy. Since then, we've learned that what may have been true from Mom and Dad's black-and-white boxes doesn't necessarily hold true when it comes to sleek, 50-inch flat-panel screens. You just don't need an LCD television.

When the screen maker issued guidance the other day, it reiterated its prospects for the remainder of the year but offered words of caution about next year. It was last month when CAPS member jgseattle noted that although he liked Corning's industry-leading position, it was just no match for the bloodletting that was going on in the economy: "[G]reat company with a great position in flat-panel market. But we are going into a recession and the consumer can no longer use home equity to purchase expensive [discretionary] toys."

It's also worth noting that jgseattle updated his thinking in a reply to his pitch where he says Corning is approaching "screaming buy" levels, particularly if the screen maker's guidance holds that sales will drop only 10% but won't have a material effect on earnings.

MEMC Electronic Materials
Will the eight-year extension of tax credits for clean renewable energy investments -- included in the massive bailout bill -- help wafer makers like MEMC avoid the downturn that's seemingly occurring in other segments of the chip industry? That's not the view held by CAPS member weiwentg, who suspects that the industry's cyclical nature will not be forestalled this time around.

MEMC sells silicon wafers to semiconductor companies, and lately to solar companies. Silicon wafers are a commodity, and this is the centerpiece of my underperform thesis.

Lately, pricing has been very strong for wafer suppliers. People are starting to get bullish on alternative energy, and MEMC's recent contracts with some large solar producers have made a lot of folks bullish.

However, there is little to differentiate the wafer suppliers. They supply a commodity and the industry is cyclical.

A 1-in-100 opportunity
Some of the best and smartest members in the CAPS investor intelligence community have made their mark, but it pays to start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS. Read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made all from a stock's CAPS page.

As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once noted, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." At Motley Fool CAPS every investor's opinion counts, and since it's free to sign up, why not use this opportunity to take your best shot?

On Oct. 7, Fool co-founder David Gardner and his Motley Fool Pro team invested $1 million in a portfolio designed to help you make money in any market. In the coming weeks, the team, relying heavily on proprietary CAPS "community intelligence" data, will establish long and short positions in a broad range of securities, including common stocks, publicly traded put and call options, and exchange-traded funds. To learn more about Motley Fool Pro and to receive a private invitation to join, simply enter your email address in the box below.