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
It was an arduous climb for Dendreon to win approval for its prostate cancer therapy Provenge. Yet as soon as it did, rivals began clamoring to horn in on its success. BioSante Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BPAX) announced that it would resurrect its own prostate cancer vaccine, GVAX. And on the same day that the FDA granted Provenge approval, it also bestowed fast-track status on Prostvac, from Bavarian Nordic, which some analysts suggest might hold better potential than Provenge.

Yet let's not get carried away by what the fast-track designation means. As we pointed out after Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX) received that status for its colorectal cancer therapy perifosine, plenty of fast-tracked drugs ultimately suffer setbacks, or never see the light of day . Prostvac has only passed Phase 2 trials; the next stage is more difficult. And BioSante's program is not very close, either. Let's wait a while before we say Dendreon is doomed. In the meantime, it essentially has the field to itself.

All the same, highly rated CAPS All-Star TMFBiologyFool -- aka fellow Fool writer Brian Orelli -- says whatever the potential of Provenge, Dendreon's stock has already been bid up to levels that are a bit unrealistic at the moment: "Guessing when the media hype will die down long enough for investors to realize they've priced in revenue that's years away can be difficult; but I'm giving it a shot anyway."

Making the connection
Discount brokerage firm E*TRADE Financial is taking its first baby steps toward getting its house back in order. I'm not talking about the reverse stock split that was approved the other day. That's just rearranging the furniture, without really accomplishing anything substantial. The 1-for-10 split will cause E*TRADE's stock to suddenly trade around $15 a stub, but the rest of the online brokerage's financial situation remains unchanged.

Instead, I'm talking about the growth in new accounts E*TRADE experienced, however tepid it may be. The company added more than 17,000 accounts in April, for a total of more than 2.6 million. While that's a nice change from the 3,500 accounts it lost the month before, it's still well below the 31,000 new accounts it gained a year ago. Yet E*TRADE also posted a 17% monthly increase in average U.S. trades in April. All these factors, plus a new stock price that no longer makes the company seem perched on the brink of oblivion, are the necessary first steps toward its recovery.

CAPS member udflyerz remains unconvinced, considering the split a desperation ploy. But All-Star mrindependent says that at worst, it's a buyout candidate, perhaps by a healthier Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW) or TD AMERITRADE (Nasdaq: AMTD):

Regardless, if the company turns a profit anytime soon, its price will soar. Even if the company never turns a profit, it is an attractive buyout candidate. For this company, survival equals success. Anything other than bankruptcy ought to lead to a nice gain.

A shining example
Las Vegas Sands is betting on the continued gambling recovery under way in China's gaming mecca, Macau. The company's own earnings quadrupled last quarter, and Macau's record $1.76 billion in gambling revenue from April was immediately shattered last month; revenues for May soared to as much as $2.25 billion, according to the Macau Daily News.

Sands hopes to capitalize on that growth by building another casino on the Cotai Strip in conjunction with Playboy Enterprises, modeled after the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.

RhinoStat thinks Las Vegas Sands has figured out how to beat the house when it comes to improving its hand:

CEO is unbelievable, their new concept of building the casino first, pays debt down like 2 years faster. Whenever the economy really turns around, this stock will be a MONSTER. In the meantime Macao and other int'l and china developments will continue to grow the cash!

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