Whoa! What Just Happened to My Stock?

Resist the urge to high-five everyone in the cubicles next to you. Your stock may have just strapped on a rocket pack and taken off for the moon, but smart investors won't celebrate until they know that upward leap was justified. Without a fundamental basis for the bounce, these stocks can quickly make the return trip down.

Is now the time to lock in profits, or is this just the first step toward even higher valuations down the road? Let's examine several stocks that just hit the afterburners, and see whether they're truly headed into orbit.

From peak to trough, the market swung 175 points, though it ended the day down only 74, or a little more than a half percent. The day could have been a lot worse, but stocks that went significantly in the opposite direction are still big deals.

The devil's in the details
It was a return to profitability that had Flotek Industries investors sending its stock surging like a gusher from an oil well. For the first time in two years the oil industry services provider turned an operating profit, though it still reported a net loss, even though it was narrower than last year.

Revenues jumped 68% because of higher vertical rig counts as well as increased copper mining due to higher copper prices. Offshore drilling continues to suffer, and we saw that last month when Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) reported that President Obama's drilling moratorium sacked profits. Despite the reputed lifting of the ban, Swift Energy (NYSE: SFY) has gone on record as saying the regulatory morass left in its wake amounts to a "de facto moratorium."

The CAPS community remains bullish about Flotek, though, with 97% of the more than 700 members rating it believing it will be able to outperform the broad market averages. Let us know on the Flotek Industries CAPS page whether the oil services company will continue to strike it rich.

Making it to the big time
Earlier this summer, the possibility that Cheniere Energy could export natural gas to international markets had investors thinking it was the right time to invest in the nat gas developer. It wants to add liquefaction capabilities to its Sabine Pass terminal which, when completed, should open new markets for it.

That seems to be happening. Even though China's markets plunged almost 6% yesterday, Cheniere was reported to be working on a deal to supply liquefied natural gas from Louisiana to one of China's largest independently owned natural gas companies. It still needs to get permission to send gas overseas and the plant still needs to be built. Yet even Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) is interested in having Cheniere supply gas.

It was the potential for the export terminal that had CAPS member Pennyperson willing to sign on with Cheniere last month.

The Department of Energy granted Cheniere Energy which is building the first new export terminal for liquefied natural gas in the US in 40 years, the right to sell LNG all over the world. That'll turn out to be big business for Cheniere because the US has such large nat-gas reserves and produces the commodity so cheaply. LNG has a potential upside of over 170% based on a current price and an average consensus analyst price target of $8.

You can keep on top of what Cheniere's doing by adding it to Fool.com's free portfolio tracker ,where all the Foolish news and analysis will be compiled in one convenient place for you.

Hyperventilating over oil
Perhaps as priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) has found that international travel has taken flight, analysts are looking for other travel agents serving international markets to similarly gain altitude. An analyst came out the other day saying India-based OTA MakeMyTrip should see a 69% increase in revenues. Airline ticketing should grow 60%, with hotel reservations jumping 83%.

Having just recently gone public, MakeMyTrip should also make the most of the opportunity it has to establish a first- mover status in the country. priceline doesn't have much if any presence right now in the country, and it is focusing its attention on markets outside of it at the present.

CAPS member arnie99 believes India is the next China in terms of growth, but there's a lot of skepticism among other investors. In fact, only 42% of CAPS members rating MakeMyTrip believe it will take wing. But tell us on the MakeMyTrip CAPS page whether this online travel agent has got the ticket to growth.

Going into orbit
Just because your stock has taken to the stratosphere doesn't mean it won't lose altitude. Markets are known for overreacting. A closer look at what's happened to your stock can give you an edge over other investors who merely follow the market's lead.

That's why it pays to start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS, where you can read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made, all from the stock's CAPS page. Then you can decide for yourself whether your stock's headed for reentry, or off to infinity and beyond.