3 Stocks Stopping the Presses

You saw the headlines. You know your stock price made a big move. But what does that portend for your investment's future?

By pairing the latest news with the collective wisdom of our 180,000-strong Motley Fool CAPS investing community, we might be able to discover whether your stock's latest exploits are a short-term hiccup -- or the start of a much bigger trend.

The following stocks have all made big moves over the past week:

Source: Motley Fool CAPS.

Can't fight this fire
The markets just didn't like the premium Stillwater Mining was paying for Peregrine Metals' assets, even though the purchase diversifies its holdings to a broader-based metals company that will include more gold and copper. Such metals totaled only about 6% of total mine production last year, while palladium and platinum accounted for 93% of production.

Investors still haven't bought into management's argument that it's not the price of the company that's key here, but the value it's paying for the copper resources. Stillwater is forking over more than three times the price Peregrine was trading for on the Toronto markets, but it says it's paying the going rate for copper.

With Stillwater and North American Palladium (NYSE: PAL) being the two premium platinum metals group miners in the Western Hemisphere, it's natural that investors would want to draw conclusions about their futures by comparing the two. North American Palladium has new gold mining projects in the works in the Abitibi region of Canada, a move the markets find more agreeable.

On CAPS, 93% of the 625 members who have rated Stillwater have marked it to outperform the broad market averages. Mine for additional insights on the Stillwater Mining CAPS page and tell us whether you think this purchase is worth its weight in gold -- or copper.

A bright spot
There was no particular news that should have caused troubled Puerto Rican banker Doral Financial to tumble last week (though it updated its prospectus in the middle of the free fall), but the markets shaved off nearly a quarter of its value nonetheless.

Earlier this year, Doral bid for rival First Bancorp (NYSE: FBP); although it was rejected, it apparently remains an open offer. But there's also talk that hedge funds would like to make a bid for both banks and consolidate them to create a more financially stable institution. It would create a bank with 81 branches and $23.6 billion in combined assets, putting it on par with Popular Inc. (Nasdaq: BPOP), which has 96 branches and $29.5 billion in assets.

CAPS member whitc08202 sees insiders' willingness to buy in as a sign of support for Doral, but the broader CAPS community is a little more sanguine. Fully one-third of those rating the bank think it will underperform the broad market averages. Follow along on how fast it can recover by adding the stock to the Fool's free portfolio tracker.

Love me, love me not
Gold exploration company Midway Gold got a big boost after it reported positive long gold intercepts based on data provided by Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX). The stock has risen from true penny stock status to almost $3 a share on the improved drilling program it instituted earlier this year and on the greater demand for gold. The stock has gained more than 525% over the past year.

It's still a little-known stock on both Wall Street and Main Street. Only 38 CAPS members have weighed in on its fortunes; 92% of them believe it will go on to continue outperforming the broad market indexes.

Add Midway to your watchlist or head over to the Midway Gold CAPS page to let us know if you think there is a golden opportunity.