Tomorrow's Monster Stock?

Stocks climbing to 10 times their original price are rare breeds -- but they're not impossible to find. Especially when you have Fools for friends.

The market's best stocks include companies that have risen dozens of times in value by taking advantage of the market's weaknesses. These aren't penny stocks; they're viable companies with sound business prospects that are achieving phenomenal returns. Finding just one or two of these monstrously successful firms can help you establish a winning portfolio.

Stalking the monster
To find tomorrow's winners, we've enlisted the help of more than 165,000 monster trackers at Motley Fool CAPS. We've compiled a list of the most successful CAPS members, dubbed All-Stars, whose picks have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled in price. Then we've plucked out some of their recent picks for stocks they find equally promising.

Score is how many percentage points that pick is beating the S&P 500.

Of course, this is not a list of stocks to buy -- or, for those monster stocks that our CAPS All-Stars have already found, sell. Just consider them starting points for your own further research of extreme buying opportunities.

In search of bigfoot
With Nordic American Tanker's dividend tied to the spot freight rate for its Suezmax class of oil tankers, some investors might be concerned that its dividend is in jeopardy. Rates have recovered from the lows set last year, but they've started trending down again. Nordic says the spot rate was $28,800 in the second quarter, down from more than $32,000 in the first. While it's still on its way down again, it's nowhere near the $13,000 rate it hit in last year's third quarter.

More importantly, Nordic operates a pretty lean operation and has no net debt. That means that if it wants to expand its fleet, it won't have to tap the equity markets to do so. That puts it in a more solid position than DryShips or Frontline (NYSE: FRO), both of which carry heavy debt loads or have diluted their shares.

When the market recovers, it benefits from a rising dividend as well as having had the wherewithal to purchase new ships cheaply without diluting shareholders. That's exactly what attracts investors like CAPS member Sundanceplus:

Strong Company with good game plan for it's industry. Operates mostly on a cash basis purchasing only modern double hulled Suez tankers. Increasing fleet with a long record of transfering profits in dividends to it's shareholders.

A good reception
You'd think its Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) pedigree would help the market hold Rubicon Minerals in good stead, but the stock is down 15% so far this year. Even a steady diet of good news regarding its flagship Phoenix project sitting in the middle of the prolific Red Lake district hasn't been enough to prop it up. But in these dicey times, Rubicon's position as a pure exploration company creates uncertainty, and until it flips the script and becomes a full-fledged producer, it's likely its stock will be volatile.

That's fine for fightinag04, who figures it presents a good opportunity to get in at a cheap price a stock that is in perhaps the best position to capitalize on its projects.

No company is better positioned with higher quality finds than Rubicon right now. Even if they don't get bought out, they are in a strong position to continue growing, as they continue searching for gold and begin mining operations.

Tune in to this
According to the market researchers at iSuppli, set-top box ships should grow nearly 12% this year and grow at a compounded rate of 7% annually for the next four years. That's going to coincide with an increase in IPTV and other broadband connections. In-Stat says that market will be worth $1.3 billion by 2014.

That suggests there will be more than just crumbs for Trident Microsystems to pick up. Earlier this year, it acquired the set-top box business of NXP Semiconductors, which supplies the chips used in the Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) Roku player. Look for the Roku, also used for Amazon.com's video on-demand service, to be a key factor in the segment's growth.

With 96% of the more than 500 CAPS members who rated Trident Microsystems picking it to outperform the broad market averages, it's likely they're expecting the chip maker to screen for higher growth.

A chance for scary growth
It takes more than a few All-Star picks and a quick pitch to make buy or sell decisions, so start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS and find other opportunities with monster potential.