5 All-Star Stock Picks

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Results talk and everything else walks. Especially for investors.

After all, whom would you want to listen to: the guy who was sure that Citigroup and Lehman Brothers were the best bets for 2008, or someone who pounded the table on Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) and Las Vegas Sands in early March of last year?

In the Motley Fool's CAPS community, performance matters. Every member of the community is given a rating based on the accuracy and overall performance of their picks. Members who rise to the top 80% of our 145,000-member community are considered All-Stars, and their performance-backed opinions carry more weight than lesser-rated members'.

To benefit from the prowess of these All-Star stock pickers, let's see what calls they're making in their CAPS portfolios right now. Here's a look at five stocks that All-Star members have rated over the past 24 hours:

Company	Stock Picker	Stock Picker Rating	Rating	Stock Rating in CAPS (out of 5)
Commercial Metals	gabearth	98.7	Outperform	****
Energy Conversion Devices (Nasdaq: ENER)	cos267	96.3	Outperform	****
Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM)	tdoodler	94.9	Underperform	***
Legg Mason (NYSE: LM)	DrSlash	82.7	Outperform	****
Vornado Realty Trust	APJ4RealHoldings	80.0	Underperform	*

Source: CAPS.

Even though these picks come from top members of the community, don't assume they'll all work out. However, a vote of confidence from CAPS' savviest stock pickers does mean that these stocks could be a great place to kick off your own further research. I'll get you started with some thoughts on DrSlash's pick, Legg Mason.

The stock picker
DrSlash has been a member of the CAPS community since December 2007, when this savvy picker gave a thumbs-up to a number of companies, including Buffalo Wild Wings (Nasdaq: BWLD) and Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). DrSlash built on some early success and today boasts an accuracy rate of 59% and a score of 469.

This member has also managed to hit some serious home runs over the past couple of years. Here are a few:

Company	Pick Date	Pick Direction	Score	CAPS Rating (out of 5)
Principal Financial Group	3/12/09	Outperform	163	**
Buffalo Wild Wings	12/31/07	Outperform	121	***
Quality Systems (Nasdaq: QSII)	12/31/07	Outperform	121	*****

Source: CAPS.

The stock
Legg Mason has absolutely been through the wringer. The financial downturn hammered the company from a number of angles, including crippling its star fund manager, Bill Miller. Investors showed little hope for the company and knocked the stock price down a whopping 85% between early 2008 and March of last year.

But as with many other stocks, investors went a bit overboard. In fact, I think they went way overboard.

Today, the stock has more than doubled from its March low, Bill Miller seems to have hit his stride again, and I don't see the vultures circling anymore. But is the stock still a buy?

Members of the CAPS community seem to think so. Nearly 1,000 members have rated the stock an outperformer, while just 79 think it will lag the markets -- a ratio that has earned the stock a four-star rating. Back in September, CAPS All-Star gpiazzolla joined the bullish chorus and had this to say:

Assets under mgmt are stabilizing, asset mix is good (56% fixed income, mostly corporates, 22% equity, with style and most of mutual funds strongly recovering) and Gabelli recently (7/23) made a strong case about how the stock could double in the next two or three years. I tried to apply the rule of Marty Whitman about how to value asset managers and this stock seems to be the most undervalued ...

If you're curious about the Marty Whitman rule that gpiazzolla is referring to, it's that you should value asset managers based on their total assets under management (AUM), and Whitman generally likes to pay below 2% of AUM. With year-end AUM of $682 billion, Legg Mason is currently trading well below 1% of its AUM.

While the stock may not be trading at the fire-sale prices it was last year, it hardly seems like the ship has sailed on Legg Mason's stock.

Now it's your turn
I've given Legg Mason a thumbs-up in my CAPS portfolio, but what do you think? Does the stock still have room to run? Head over to CAPS, and let your voice be heard!

I think Warren Buffett has given a lot of good advice; my fellow Fool Morgan Housel believes he's found Buffett's best advice ever.