3 Stocks Breaking Out

Volatile markets seem to be the norm these days, as stocks gyrate through ups and downs on a daily basis. Sometimes, buyout news and other short-term forces can send individual stocks soaring by 10%, 25%, even 50% -- even on the market's worst days.        

For example, shares of Spain's Banco Santander shot 23% higher, along with many other European banks, last Monday after the EU rescue package was announced.   

But beyond less-predictable events such as that one are stocks with fundamentally compelling reasons behind a big move. The trick is to find those stocks. That's where Motley Fool CAPS comes in.

The story behind the story
CAPS is no crowd of lemmings. Its best-performing members' opinions do more to shape each company's rating than the picks of their poorer-performing peers. Here's an example of how we can use the collective wisdom of more than 160,000 CAPS members to filter out the noise and find companies with strong potential.

We'll use CAPS' handy stock screening tool to quickly zero in on companies with a stock-price increase of at least 15% in the past four weeks, a market cap of greater than $100 million, and a beta of less than 3. Then we can use the insight of the CAPS investment community to add some context to these market movers.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS. Price return from April 16 through May 14.

Silver Wheaton
As the debt crisis in Europe spooks more investors into precious metals and the industrial demand for silver continues to grow, Silver Wheaton has been a big benefactor of the resulting rise in silver prices. Margins were boosted by the 45% increase in its first-quarter average realized price of silver, and earnings nearly tripled over the prior year. With Goldcorp's (NYSE: GG) Penasquito mine now ramping up production and a newly acquired interest in Pan American Silver's (Nasdaq: PAAS) Navidad project, Silver Wheaton continues to grow its production numbers and plant seeds for future growth, leading to a large number of bullish CAPS members.

Indeed, 96% of the 1,915 members rating Silver Wheaton, including this Fool, expect the stock to outperform the broader market.   

Cirrus Logic
In addition to being a hit for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) shareholders, strong sales of the iPad and other Apple products are benefitting a myriad of companies that supply parts for its devices, such as Cirrus Logic and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN). While TI has a much larger portfolio than Cirrus and expects big growth in its core chip business over the next several years, products from Apple account for a big chunk of Cirrus' revenue, which jumped by 87% in its fourth quarter. 

CAPS members see Cirrus' coattail relationship with Apple as a big positive for earnings growth and like its growing list of other customers as well. In CAPS, 93% of the 218 members rating Cirrus Logic see it as a market-beating investment.   

Eldorado Gold
With a strong first-quarter earnings report that included record production levels and a 248% increase in revenue, Eldorado Gold decided to top it off by raising its full-year production guidance, ratcheting down its cost guidance, and initiating a dividend payment. It boosted its presence in China last year with its purchase of Sino Gold, and will further its expansion as it adds mines in Brazil with the buyout of the rest of Brazauro Resources that it doesn't already own. 

Many CAPS members like the strategic moves the midtier miner has been making, as 93% of the 678 members rating Eldorado Gold expect it to beat the S&P.   

And you?
What's your story? Whether you buy the tale of a stock that's soaring or souring, your own research is more important than collective opinions. But these collective opinions can make your due diligence a whole lot easier.

Add your take on these or any of the 5,400 stocks that our 160,000-plus members have covered in Motley Fool CAPS.