Whoa! What Just Happened to My Stock?

Resist the urge to high-five everyone in the cubicles next to you. Your stock may have just strapped on a rocket pack and taken off for the moon, but smart investors won't celebrate until they know that upward leap was justified. Without a fundamental basis for the bounce, these stocks can quickly make the return trip down.

Is now the time to lock in profits, or is this just the first step toward even higher valuations down the road? Let's examine several stocks that just hit the afterburners and see whether they're truly headed into orbit.

In yet another wild swing, the market went to the polar opposite of its move the other day and roared ahead 191 points, or 1.6%, as a much better jobs number outweighed other concerns. It's a big turnaround, and appropriate for a month known for madness, so stocks that went up by even larger percentages are bigger deals still.

New frontiers in investing
After the market's dithering over whether China Marine Food Group was just another in a growing list of Chinese small-cap stock scams, it seems the market's settled on it being the real deal after fourth-quarter sales doubled, generating a 43% increase in profit.

The critique against China Marine and others like China Green Agriculture (NYSE: CGA) and China Biotics (Nasdaq: CHBT) is that the financials they file with Chinese officials differ markedly from those they file with the SEC. China Green has said investors shouldn't be surprised by this, since no one pays attention to China's State Administration of Industry and Commerce filings; the more relevant filings are those sent to tax authorities.

Wall Street remains bullish about China Marine, though, with all four analysts covering it believing it will outperform the market, while 97% of the CAPS All-Stars weighing in have a similar positive outlook. But you can let us know in the comments section below, or on the China Marine Food Group CAPS page, whether it's best to swear off Chinese small-cap stocks until more transparency is introduced to their operations.

High-wire act
There was no specific news that conducted Superconductor Technologies higher yesterday, but its recent production of second-generation samples of its high-temperature superconducting wire products last month and the prospects for starting deliveries soon has been pushing its shares higher lately. The stock is up 143% since the beginning of February when it made the announcement.

The three next-gen wire samples Superconductor Technologies developed are directed toward superconducting wind turbines, power grid surge protectors, and advanced power transmission cable transmitters. Although American Superconductor (Nasdaq: AMSC) is getting more attention these days for its alternative energy power inverters (no doubt because it's what pays the bills), it's also heavily invested in HTS technology since the two industries are highly correlated.

CAPS member theflyingfroggy is excited by the opportunity the development presents, but All-Star TMFUltraLong thinks SCON has a lot more to prove before it's worth the doubling in value it has witnessed:

Oh glory glory joy joy.... a few customers actually found a use for some of their sample parts. This is possibly the first real victory Superconductor Technologies has had in over a decade. I've been following this money leech for the better part of a decade and I've learned over time that all of its spikes are met with bouts of reality soon afterwards. [Superconductor Technologies] is still not intrinsically worth anything and should be kicking out losses for as far as the eye can see. Jumping 100% in a week gets this a big fat sell recommendation.

Conduct yourself over to Superconductor Technologies CAPS page and let us know if you think its HTS samples warrant it being such a hot stock.

Not the Apple of your eye
Shares of protective cover and accessories maker ZAGG were zig-zagging all over the market following introduction of the Apple iPad 2. Since its iPad covers and screen protector InvisibleSHIELD have proven to be hot items, the unveiling of an Apple-made cover-stand combo sent the stock into a tizzy, plummeting 24% one day, only to rise 20% the next.

Why the change of heart? Well, there's no real alternative yet to the popular InvisibleSHIELD, so maybe sales won't be hit as hard as previously thought. Yet it also highlights the very shallow moat ZAGG is sporting as a defense, and investors might want to consider how easily competitors can enter the market

CAPS member goldminingXpert thinks the grains of sand on ZAGG's clock are quickly running out, but if you add ZAGG to the Fool's free portfolio tracker, you can have a central repository for all the news and analysis about the company and its developments.

Going into orbit
It pays to start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS, where you can read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made -- all from the stock's CAPS page. Then you can decide for yourself whether your stock's headed for reentry, or off to infinity and beyond.