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 140,000 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
With the coming release of the Droid from Verizon, smartphone users may begin to question whether the iPhone is all that. The commercials for Verzion's "iPhone killer" highlight all that the iconic phone doesn't do, which may help other handset makers make inroads into Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) market share.

Of course, considering the blowout quarter Apple just reported, that amounts to some pretty heavy lifting on Verizon's part. Research In Motion needs all the help it can get these days, even if it arrives in a rather oblique manner. Earnings slipped in RIM's most recent quarter, even if that had more to do with a legal settlement charge than with its smartphone business. Indeed, revenue rose 37% from the year-ago period, as RIM shipped more than 8 million handsets. But that was less than what analysts had hoped for, and they felt that third-quarter guidance was a bit light. Shares tumbled more than 20% in the aftermath.

CAPS member xjp83x thinks that if Apple is the end-all and be-all in smartphones, then a lot of other companies besides Research In Motion are doomed:

RIMM had a bad quarter. I see a lot of people still owning the BlackBerry or buying a new one. If iPhone is to beat BlackBerry, that means that Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola will all go down. People are overreacting and overselling this stock.

A6EIntruder disagrees, though, seeing the BlackBerry as a niche phone for a niche subset without much room for growth:

What's left, or who's left for RIMM? Large legacy corporate and government clients. I can't imagine that this is a sector that wireless providers are dying to get into (can you imagine the work in fulfilling a provincial RFP?). Consumers will look elsewhere for sure when the sheer ubiquity of Android apps overtakes the iPhone's, which it will within a few short years. It's crunch time for the big players! Let's hope that RIMM keeps its stick on the ice....by adopting Android as its OS!

While that might be a little over the top, since RIM sports more models than any of its primary competitors, that diversity may also be what's hurting the company. Apple has focused on a core product and done so successfully. Arguably paring back its offerings could allow Research In Motion to similarly boost its appeal, even if a narrower viewpoint hasn't necessarily helped Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) vault to the forefront.

What do you think? Has RIM hurt itself by trying to be all things to all consumers, or does the diverse product lineup give it a competitive advantage? Let us know in the comments section below and on Research In Motion's CAPS page.

A chance for scary growth
It takes more than a few All-Star picks and a quick paragraph to make buy or sell decisions. 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.