A 1-in-100 Investor

The first 100 days in office sets the tone for any new president. Similarly, Motley Fool CAPS keeps an eye on members who score 100 points of market outperformance on stock picks in their first 100 days. Here, we're looking at our All-Stars who made some of their best stock selections early on and seeing which ones they think will do best next.

One of our highest-rated CAPS members is MSUalum, who sports a top 93.92 member rating. Below are a few of this top member's most recent stock selections and how they were rated.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS.
*Price when call was made. Current score is how many percentage points a member is beating (lagging) the S&P500 index by from the time of the call.

Let's take a look at what other CAPS members are saying about these stocks and whether they agree with this top player's assessment.

Degree of risk
Expect United States Steel to look even more attractive if Australia's plan to tax its domestic mining companies, possibly to death, goes through. The Aussies want to slap a tax as high as 40% on the so-called "super" profits that exceed the country's long-term bond rate, currently around 6%. Both BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) are screaming mad about the proposal. Some say it may threaten mergers in the industry. The resources sector has been the engine driving Australia's economic growth, and the plan to give away the proceeds to fund retirement programs during an election year there could significantly harm the industry.

While that means you might want to hold off investing in BHP or Rio Tinto til things become more settled, the U.S. steel maker looks more attractive by comparison. Iron ore prices are already rising because of demand from China. If Australia shuts down its mining sector, global supplies will tighten further. Economics 101 tells you that rising demand with scarce supplies equal higher prices. That will drop right to U.S. Steel's bottom line.

The risks to growth, however, are the turmoil in Europe as Greece grasps its lifeline and China tries to put the brakes on its economic growth. If Greece defaults, jeopardizing Europe's recovery, and China throws cold water on its expansion, commodities pricing could take a hit.

CAPS member WECpoker is just looking at conditions close to home and sees the potential for growth:

Economy is heating up for 2nd half, this one has been battered recently from $70s to $54. I gotta take a company that is trading at forward P/E of 9.51 while the products that are needed for steel will be ramping up as the economy moves to the next step in the recovery

Store this away for later
It was two weeks ago that data storage specialist Xyratex was identified as a stock ready to move higher. Move it has, but in the opposite direction, down about 11% compared to a 4% decline in the S&P 500. Giving back some of its recent gains probably isn't too surprising considering the 450% run-up it's had over the past year. On the plus side, it had experienced better than 73% growth in revenues this past quarter compared to a year ago, and sales have exceeded $1 billion over the past 12 months. It's forecast to post a record $1.5 billion in 2010.

With data storage a hot sector, EMC is up 53% since last year, and Western Digital jumped 55%. CAPS member sdusa says to look for Xyratex to retrace those recent losses:

Stock is at a deep discount now than when earnings surprise hit on March 31. Should have a good run-up from here at $15 .

What a gas!
The natural gas glut has ruptured plans of Cheniere Energy, a developer of natural gas terminals, to develop a project off the coast of Texas. Conceived when there was a dearth of gas supply that had people thinking we would be importing LNG by the boatload, Cheniere's Freeport LNG terminal fell victim to new drilling techniques that created a boom in the industry. Now it's plagued by too much gas, and prices have remained depressed. Cheniere is selling its stake in the terminal for $104 million and using the proceeds to pay down its debt.

Member 78TAX likes that the terminal operator is cleaning up its balance sheet, but Pennyperson thinks Cheniere's stock is showing some technical signs that make it an interesting play:

Exit/Restart-this time I'm holding for the long haul. It's currently above its 50 & 200 day moving avearge-if these moving averages climb then we may see the momentum continue

A 1-in-100 opportunity
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. And since it's free to sign up, why not use this opportunity to take your best shot?