Admit It: You Love Financial Stocks

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When the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (NYSE: FAS) trades 240 million times a day, it means one thing: Investors love financials! Here at Motley Fool CAPS, we can dig deeper and faster into financial stocks, using the aggregated intelligence of more than 130,000 investors to find the best investing opportunities.

Below, we'll spotlight some of the highest-ranked financial stocks in the CAPS universe, and see whether investors like you think they'll continue their winning ways:

Stock	CAPS Rating (out of 5)	No. of Calls	% Outperform Calls
NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX)	*****	2,550	96.7%
Hercules Technology Growth Capital (Nasdaq:  HTGC)	*****	207	98.5%
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY)	*****	544	93.3%
CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE)	*****	1851	96.1%
Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD)	*****	422	95%

Data from Motley Fool CAPS as of April 30.

Though your own results may differ, since the data is dynamically updated in real time, you can run your own version of this screen. For now, let's examine why investors might have confidence in these stocks' market-beating prowess.

NYSE Euronext
Market exchange powerhouse NYSE Euronext has seen its fair share of price movement since its IPO in 2004. Market volatility is a welcome thing for the exchange, since it profits more when people trade more. With volatility soaring and fast-paced trading becoming ever more common, my fellow Fool and CAPS All-Star TMFBreakerTAllan thinks NYSE Euronext will "explode with revenue" once this recession ends:

When markets go bad, the market still makes a fee. There has been a dearth of IPOs in the past few years and when the current recession ends, both [NYSE Euronext] and [NASDAQ (Nasdaq: NDAQ)] will explode with revenue. In the meantime, [NYSE Euronext] has the volume to support revenues and has a steady stream of additional income as ETFs become more and more prevalent on the markets. All that and a dividend yield greater than 5%.

Hercules Technology Growth Capital
Hercules Technology Growth Capital does what its name suggests (if you twist it around a bit). The firm provides debt and equity growth capital to technology companies of all shapes and sizes. While the company may have to cut its dividend soon, investors still eye the stock greedily. CAPS All-star traderpat9 believes the company is a "bargain," while member joats5 recently wrote:

Solid Earnings, Great Dividend, Lower Debt to Equity, High (66%) Institutional Ownership, Great operating Margin, P/E is near the Buffet perfect zone (i.e. 12), general consensus on CAPS and all [E*trade (Nasdaq: ETFC)] indicators show this is a super strong choice! Unless there is a secret second set of books that nobody's found yet I can't imagine a better choice for a balanced portfolio.

CapitalSource
Over the past two years, CapitalSource has undergone some major changes. At the beginning of 2007, the company was a REIT, focused on commercial loans and real estate. But by mid-2008, the company had slashed its dividend, taking on banking operations in order to take advantage of all the opportunities in this recession. CAPS member sib0971 believes CapitalSource's management will captain the company well in the coming future:

General panic in financial sector, as well as fears about commercial real estate/leasing (especially with exposure in California) has this baby suffering. However, strong management is capable of navigating through these troubled waters, I believe. Definitely underpriced, with huge upside potential.

Three to please
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. Head over to the completely free CAPS service, and let us hear what you have to say about these financial stocks or any other stocks that you love.