A 1-in-100 Investor

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The first 100 days in office set the tone for any new president. Similarly, Motley Fool CAPS keeps an eye on how well members do in their first 100 days. Some of our best -- we call them All-Stars -- have achieved scores of 100 on selections in those early days. In this column, we're looking at our best members who made some of their best selections early on and seeing which ones they think will be best next.

One of our highest-rated CAPS members is cobradon, with a 98.51 member rating. Since joining CAPS in January 2007, cobradon has 200 active picks out of more than 1,370 stock picks made. With 68% accuracy, cobradon has attracted 84 "groupies," CAPS members who've listed this investor as one of their favorites.

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

Stock

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

Call

Price*

Current Score

AT&T (NYSE: T)

****

Outperform

$26.37

(3.36)

Capstead Mortgage

**

Outperform

$13.68

2.63

CardioNet (Nasdaq: BEAT)

***

Underperform

$6.33

(10.13)

First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR)

**

Underperform

$146.89

5.58

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners

****

Outperform

$53.70

(1.15)

Kroger

***

Underperform

$20.46

(7.61)

Linn Energy (Nasdaq: LINE)

****

Outperform

$16.59

57.63

MBIA (NYSE: MBI)

*

Underperform

$7.54

19.01

Northrop Grumman

***

Outperform

$68.12

(5.30)

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC)

***

Outperform

$27.57

2.01

Source: Motley Fool CAPS. *Price when call was made. Current score is number of points by which 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 a couple of these stocks and whether they agree with this player's assessment.

Degree of risk
The stock of CardioNet, which makes wireless heart monitoring devices, went into a tailspin recently when the company confirmed that Highmark Medicare Service was cutting Medicare reimbursements by 33%. Some analysts think CardioNet may need to restructure, but enhancements it has made to its mobile cardiac outpatient telemetry services may help it negotiate payments that more appropriately value its technology.

CAPS member BetapegLLC believes it has tremendous potential:

The stock price is only 11% more than book value and investors pay only $1.25 for every dollar of sales. Estimated earnings growth is also undervalued as indicated by a PEG ratio of 0.38. CardioNet has outperformed 8% of the market in the last 8 months. This indicates the stock to be highly undervalued relative to its fundamentals grade of 53%. CardioNet is valued at $32.91 for FY2009. With a current price of $7.28, BEAT is 352.11% undervalued for the fiscal year. Insiders have purchased and granted a substantial amount of shares indicating executives see great potential in the stock. The Company has an excellent balance sheet with many times more cash than short-term debts in addition to having no long-term debt.

Not to its credit
Here's a shocker: Wells Fargo is making interest rates higher for most of its customers ahead of a rule change that limits such increases. Wells Fargo says it has nothing to do with the new law -- rather, it's because of the continuing deterioration in business conditions.

It was anticipated that many banks would stick it to their customers with higher bill payments, so Congress is now considering changing the compliance date for banks from February to December. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is noteworthy because it said it would not raise its rates.

Wells Fargo has otherwise shown itself to be a well-run institution, and analysts see its Wachovia acquisition as a long-term driver for growth. Yet as the third-largest bank in the country in terms of deposits and market cap, Wells Fargo probably doesn't offer investors the same sort of growth that it did in the past. Foolish colleague Alex Dumortier still sees Wells Fargo as a buy at these levels, and CAPS member AZBrewer concurs:

Still bank is well run and under-exposed to the toxic assets of residential and commercial real estate relative to their peers. However, their acquisition of Wachovia and it's portfolio of toxic assets will promise some pain in the short-term. Look for this company to lead the pack out of this crisis.

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. It's free to sign up, so why not use this opportunity to take your best shot?

“The Next Great Investment”… That’s how a top global investor describes India’s potential. On Nov. 28, The Motley Fool’s Tim Hanson returns to India to prove it. Follow along in real time and get his TOP pick first (Hanson returned from China in July with a stock that’s up 169%!). Enter email below.

First Solar is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services today, free for 30 days.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey owns shares of Kroger but does not have a financial position in any of the other stocks mentioned in this article. You can see his holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Related Tickers

11/24/2009 11:29 AM
BAC $16.13 Down -0.16 -0.98%
Bank of America Co… CAPS Rating: ***
MBI $3.42 Down -0.12 -3.39%
MBIA, Inc. CAPS Rating: *
T $26.93 Up +0.15 +0.56%
AT&T, Inc. CAPS Rating: ****
WFC $27.69 Down -0.38 -1.35%
Wells Fargo & Comp… CAPS Rating: ***
FSLR $119.00 Down -2.42 -1.99%
First Solar, Inc. CAPS Rating: **
LINE $24.46 Down -0.07 -0.29%
Linn Energy, LLC CAPS Rating: ****

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