Finding the next big stock is both satisfying and profitable. Like Nirvana for those early on the grunge scene, or, in my case, Modest Mouse, it's even more rewarding if you can discover greatness before everyone else.

With that in mind, I used our new Motley Fool CAPS screening tool to find stocks whose ratings have risen to four stars (out of five) from one, two, or three stars one month ago. These are stocks with growing bullish sentiment.

They also have:

  • Market capitalizations above $100 million.
  • At least 200 active CAPS picks.

Remember, in the first year for which we have data, newly minted four-star stocks outperformed all other categories, with an average gain of 41%.

Company

Share Price

Sector

Market Cap

Alcoa (NYSE: AA)

$42.00

Basic Materials

$34.2 billion

CIGNA

$40.06

Health Care

$11.2 billion

Denny's

$3.69

Services

$350 million

DirecTV Group (Nasdaq: DTV)

$27.95

Technology

$32.1 billion

LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK)

$36.57

Technology

$3.9 billion

Level 3 (Nasdaq: LVLT)

$3.12

Technology

$4.8 billion

On2 Technologies (AMEX: ONT)

$0.94

Services

$150 million

Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM)

$44.13

Technology

$71.4 billion

Take-Two Interactive Software (Nasdaq: TTWO)

$26.97

Technology

$2.1 billion

Toronto-Dominion Bank

$67.30

Financial

$48.4 billion

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance.

Of course, screens are merely a first step in the stock selection process. After all, there's no long-term advantage in picking the next Chumbawamba. Come and join our 100,000-person-strong (and growing) Motley Fool CAPS community in finding the best up-and-comers.

If you're interested in picking emerging stocks, you can take a look at all our Rule Breakers growth newsletter recommendations, one of which is Take-Two, free for 30 days. Eleven of our picks have already doubled, and we've got two new promising picks for new money now. Click here to learn more.

More Foolery: