5 Stocks the Smart Money Loves

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Let's face it: Not all of us have time to do exhaustive research to unearth great stocks such as Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE: MSA) or Stericycle (Nasdaq: SRCL).

But that doesn't mean we can't examine the work of other smart investors and use it to our advantage. One way to do so is to track the stock picks of All-Star investors in CAPS, The Motley Fool's interactive stock-rating database.

All-Stars have a ranking of 80 or better out of 100 -- in other words, their picks are outperforming at least 80% of their 60,000 rated fellow CAPS members. The top players have accuracy levels exceeding 60%, and some are so good that they've earned some media attention. It pays to follow what they do.  

We can easily search for their top picks using the handy CAPS screener. For example, we can search for stocks with:

• At least 100 All-Star Outperform picks.
• Insider ownership of more than 20%.

Doing that returns the following:

Company Name	CAPS Rating (5 max)	All-Star Outperform Picks	All-Star Underperform Picks	% Insider-Owned
Leucadia National (NYSE: LUK)	*****	152	8	21%
Cabela's (NYSE: CAB)	*****	145	9	22%
ShengdaTech (Nasdaq: SDTH)	*****	140	4	44%
Metalico (AMEX: MEA)	*****	137	6	25%
TBS International (Nasdaq: TBSI)	****	104	18	28%

Source: Motley Fool CAPS as of Oct. 13, 2008.

You should always make your own final decision on your investments, but it feels good knowing a lot of other smart people are on your side. Feel free to use the CAPS screener to find some more potential winners.

In the coming weeks, Fool co-founder David Gardner and his Motley Fool Pro team will invest $1 million in a portfolio designed to help you make money in any market. The service, which just launched, will rely heavily on proprietary CAPS "community intelligence" data to 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.