Tomorrow's Monster Stocks

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 over the past decade. These aren't penny stocks; they're viable companies that have sound business prospects and achieve phenomenal returns every year. Finding just one or two of these monstrously successful companies can help you establish a winning portfolio.

Stalking the monster
To find tomorrow's winners, we've enlisted the help of more than 135,000 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.

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
For mobile-communications wannabe TerreStar to become a monster in the making, it's going to take a leap of faith by investors that this time satellite telephony will be a hit. Considering the spectacular flameouts by companies such as Motorola (NYSE:MOT)-backed Iridium a decade ago, there seems little to encourage anyone to think things will be different today.

TerreStar is promising to bring the power of a satellite phone to a BlackBerry-sized device, but the initial cost is rumored to be around $700 for the unit. Moreover, its utility will be limited as well, because it will still need to be in direct line of sight with the satellite for communication to proceed. That was one of the main drawbacks to previous sat-phone iterations: You had to essentially get near a window -- or sometimes go to the roof of your office building -- to make a call. The canyons of a modern city wouldn't cut it for getting a good connection. However, TerreStar is developing hybrid phones that can use both cellular and satellite technology, switching back and forth as needed.

One big benefit of TerreStar's mobile communications efforts would be in the sparsely populated areas of the country that have limited or no access to cell-phone reception. And in the wake of another Hurricane Katrina, emergency workers could also benefit from the availability of satellite phones. Further, by limiting its ambitions to providing coverage in North America alone, the company minimizes the risks that plagued Iridium's global ambitions.

Perhaps the real profit potential here is in TerreStar's assets: A wireless carrier might find that it just makes more financial sense to buy TerreStar and its spectrum holdings outright than to pay for such access in the marketplace. After all, AT&T (NYSE:T) will be selling its handsets through a reciprocity agreement: Might it not also want the coverage?

The announcement that TerreStar would be launching its satellite into orbit today shook the market last month, and its stock catapulted into orbit as well. Highly rated CAPS All-Star member TSIF is among the optimists who thinks TerreStar has the potential to succeed where others have failed. While there's a lot that can go wrong -- a competitor's satellite launch went awry, for example -- this member is expecting TerreStar to take off nonetheless.

Will a successful satellite launch help this money losing venture to take off? ... With current satellites aging and technology advancing a new satellite could put TerreStar back to income positive. The new satellite will expand the mobile broadband network and be very effective in rural areas. TerreStar-1 is the largest commercial satellite to date. ... With a large debt load and a net negative equity, any flops in this satellite launch could spell the end for this company. High risk, questionable reward, high beta stock … let's see if she can take off …10, 9, 8 …

A chance for scary growth
It takes more than a few All-Star picks and a quick paragraph to make buy or sell decisions, so start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS. You can read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made -- all from a stock's CAPS page. And while you're there, weigh in with your own thoughts on whether you think these are tomorrow's monster stocks.