Investors are always hunting for the next big stock -- the dream stock whose price increases several times over when the market finally discovers it. It's easy to look back and discover the 10 best stocks of the past decade. But I'm more interested in the tools that can help me evaluate tomorrow's greatest companies.
Motley Fool CAPS offers a variety of resources to aid Fools in finding tomorrow's leaders. Our 140,000-member community is full of investors helping each other beat the market.
We'll enlist CAPS to screen for Internet companies, then get the story behind some of its more highly rated stocks. CAPS' nifty screener will help us find stocks with:
Then we'll tap the collective intelligence of our CAPS members to see whether these companies present real opportunities -- or whether the numbers fail to tell the true story.
Opinions with the numbers
Below is a sample of stocks our screen returned. You can run this screen yourself -- remember, though, that your results may differ from ours as the market changes.
Data and star rankings from CAPS as of Oct. 2.
Akamai
With companies such as Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX ) and Apple, and Hulu increasingly moving more content over the web, demand for content delivery networks such as Akamai and Limelight has grown significantly. Akamai is beginning to see a tipping point where people start to favor the Internet as their go-to source for video delivery, compared to traditional outlets. The company expects strong benefits for the content delivery industry from this shift.
With the recent unveiling of the Akamai HD Network, which delivers high-definition video online using Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE ) Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and the Apple iPhone, it's looking to stay ahead of the curve by meeting the large-scale demand for high-quality content.
Many investors think Akamai's established position and strong balance sheet leave it well-positioned to withstand the onslaught of heavy competition that's come as a result of market growth. Today, 96.2% of the 2,702 CAPS members rating Akamai expect it to beat the broader market.
NetEase.com
The increasing demand in the Chinese online gaming market continues to fuel growth opportunities for gaming companies such as NetEase and Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD ) , and prompting many of the big names to spin off their gaming divisions altogether. For its part, NetEase pulled in another strong quarter recently, with a 22% revenue increase; investors expect more to follow. With the relaunch of World of Warcraft -- now under NetEase's operation -- and a pipeline of other titles, a strong following of CAPS members like the company's potential. As such, 97.1% of the 1,116 members rating Netease.com expect it to outperform the S&P.
Zix
Zix is in the business of e-prescription software and email encryption technology. Though the company may eventually sell off its e-prescription business, many CAPS members like the potential growth opportunities in the growing online security market. Zix recently renewed its contract with Humana, one of the largest health-care plans in the nation, and has strong relationships with partners such as Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC ) . Its email encryption business generated solid revenue and orders in the second quarter, and it expects that strength to continue. In CAPS, 97.3% of the 514 members rating Zix are bullish.
Let 140,000 members be the jury
The collective wisdom of a huge pool of investors can help give context to a page of numbers from a stock screen. But individual investors are still the best judges of what to do with their own money. Fools should always perform their own due diligence.
Happily, it's easy to chime in with your own opinion. If you agree that these companies present dream opportunities -- or see more of a nightmare instead -- simply scroll down and add your thoughts in the comments box.
Always looking ahead, the Motley Fool Rule Breakers service has already recommended several gaming stocks poised to prosper. To see what other rule-breaking stocks David Gardner is picking today, take a free 30-day trial.
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