True penny stocks are a minefield, but small-cap copper beauties can be one way to easily double your money.
At the other end of the price spectrum, you'll find what I call "three-digit stocks." Though if they're anything like Berkshire Hathaway, they can trade in the four-, five-, and six-digit range, too.
While 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 triple-digit titans the investor-intelligence database thinks might have the best chance of success.
Here are a handful of these high-priced highfliers:
|
Stock
|
3-Digit Price
|
CAPS Rating (out of 5)
|
Return on Capital, TTM
|
|
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN )
|
$118.49
|
**
|
15%
|
|
iShares Barclays TIPS Bond (NYSE: TIP )
|
$103.19
|
*
|
0.5%
|
|
PotashCorp (NYSE: POT )
|
$100.65
|
****
|
18.2%
|
|
Strayer Education (Nasdaq: STRA )
|
$220.95
|
**
|
54.8%
|
|
Wesco Financial (NYSE: WSC )
|
$330.00
|
*****
|
2.4%
|
Source: Motley Fool CAPS and Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.
Highfalutin honeys
With a plethora of companies reporting better earnings this quarter, you might think the economy was pulling out of the recession, with continued improvement ahead. But last year was such a horrible period that comparisons are much easier to beat this time around. Because companies tightened their belts and cut costs, they are able to post better-than-expected earnings, without necessarily having to post better-than-average sales growth.
Saving on the expense lines is smart management in a recession, but it's just not a true recovery unless you're growing sales, too.
Then there are the companies like Amazon.com that posted better earnings and better revenues. Not only did the e-tailer's sales grow in the latest quarter, but with expenses under control, profits soared as well. So did the stock, jumping by 27% on Friday.
It almost makes you wistfully look back to the tech bubble days, when a price target from Henry Blodget could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. On a split-adjusted basis, Amazon is trading at $700 a share, well above the infamous $400 price point Blodget set back in 1998. As he recently admitted, "it took about a decade longer than I would have hoped."
Amazon still has tough competition coming from the likes of eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY ) in the online space, and Wal-Mart's (NYSE: WMT ) bricks-and-mortar stores. The success it's achieved thus far is a measure of management's tenacity, and CAPS member MichiganBull thinks Wal-Mart might need to start looking over its shoulder.
Yet maybe the market was simply looking for someone -- anyone! -- to post decent earnings that weren't plastered with caveats. CAPS member jed71 thinks Amazon's stock reset was an overreaction to an admittedly good earnings report, albeit one that can't be sustained:
Oh come on. I mean really. This might win the stupid award for the day. And with all the political antics today, that is really saying something.
Amazon beats earnings estimates by $0.12 and that deserves a 26% one-day run up in price to its 52 week high of $119 per share? Give me a break.
So earnings came in at $0.45 rather than $0.32. Whoop-dee-doo. And revenue beat expectations by a crazy high 0.1%. They are in a highly competitive market that is getting more competitive by the second. Did anyone read earlier this week that Barnes and Noble has announced a new e-reader, the Nook? And apparently has many more bells and whistles than the Kindle!
Seriously, does anyone truly believe this company deserves a 78 P/E? I feel like I am having a bad flashback to 2000. If I have ever truly seen a stock that is overbought, thy name is AMZN.
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 also the potential to double, triple, and even quadruple in value over time.
Join Stock Advisor free for 30 days, and get immediate access to all of David and Tom's proprietary research. There is no obligation to subscribe. Already a subscriber? Log in at the top of this page.
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