5 Top 3-Digit Stocks

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True penny stocks are a minefield, but small-cap copper beauties can be one way to easily double your money.

But you'll also find worthy companies at the opposite end of the price spectrum. I call them "three-digit stocks," though if they're anything like Berkshire Hathaway, they can trade in the four-, five-, and six-digit range, too.

Just as a penny stock might not be a good buy simply because it's cheap, a three-digit stock shouldn't scare you away just because it carries a hefty price tag. Let's check in with the Motley Fool CAPS community to see which of these high rollers has the best chance of success, according to our investor-intelligence database. Here are just a handful of candidates:

Stock	3-Digit Price	CAPS Rating	Return on Capital, TTM
Alexander's	$309.00	*	6.2%
Fairfax Financial (NYSE: FFH)	$371.27	****	14.7%
ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI)	$103.26	**	82.3%
NVR (NYSE: NVR)	$670.43	*	10.2%
Terra Nitrogen (NYSE: TNH)	$109.00	****	79.5%

Source: CAPS and Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. CAPS rating is out of five stars. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Triple-digit titans!
Well, thank goodness for that! Ben Bernanke has proclaimed the recession dead and buried, and Warren Buffett agrees it's over. But I'm not buying it for a second.

New home starts fell in August for the first time since January, and we're approaching the slack selling season for home sales. In addition, the huge $8,000 tax subsidy for first-time homebuyers is expiring at the end of this year. Just like the Cash for Clunkers program, which sucked car buyers into a narrow window of opportunity, but left dealers subsequently sucking wind, the tax credit attracted many new homebuyers who otherwise would have stayed away.

According to the California Association of Realtors, 40% of all first-time homebuyers said they would not have purchased their homes, had it not been for the tax credit. And 70% said it was a "very important" or the "most important" criteria when deciding whether to buy. So when the subsidy ends, expect to find precious few buyers left.

Single-family homebuilder NVR is just one of the beneficiaries of the credit, and its stock has rebounded more than 77% over the past six months. As impressive as that sounds, it's nothing compared to the stocks of Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH), which is up more than 600%; Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV), up almost 300%; or Lennar (NYSE: LEN), which has doubled.

CAPS member jed71 is concerned there is more trouble ahead, particularly in certain pockets of the country:

In addition, the firm has very heavy exposure to the Metro DC / No Va. market. This regional housing market has not yet seen its bottom. There are still increasing levels of foreclosures and heavy price reductions in the area, even with the introduction of a new governmental administration. All of this is quite negative for NVR. Although I do not believe the company will go out of business, it is highly unlikely they will continue to outperform the broader market in the near term.

With unemployment still rising, foreclosures still on the move, and very real problems still facing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it seems a bit premature to say we're at the end of the tunnel.

Count to 10
These three-digit stocks might be on their way to even higher valuations. That's why it pays to start your own research in 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.

Want help finding your own three-digit darlings? Join Fool co-founders David and Tom Gardner at Motley Fool Stock Advisor as they search the market for stocks enjoying not only a triple-digit price tag, but the potential to double, triple, and even quadruple in value over time.

Click here to join Stock Advisor free for 30 days and get immediate access to all of David and Tom's research. There is no obligation to subscribe. Already a subscriber? Log in at the top of this page.