The market has had a torrid run since the March 9 low, ascending a whopping 61%. While rising prices wiped out some of the most appealing valuations seen in decades, this surge in stock prices doesn't mean you've missed the boat. And it shouldn't deter you from making a wish list of stocks you'd like to snag for your portfolio.

If this truly is the beginning of a new bull market, then there's still room to run from here. And if a pullback is looming, prices will correct and create more attractive entry points for investors. Either way, if you research and build a list of stocks you'd want to own, you'll simply need to wait until each stock reaches your preferred price to pounce. The volatility in this environment should provide you opportunities to do exactly that.

To start assembling my very own stock wish list, I used the Fool's CAPS screener to find premium companies such as Apple, which has outperformed the S&P 500 by 28% per year on average for the past 10 years.

To screen for some of the market's best stocks, I used the following criteria:

  • Market cap greater than $10 billion, which suggests stability.
  • A current ratio of at least 1, to ensure sufficient liquidity to meet current liabilities.
  • Return on equity north of 15%, to demonstrate efficiency and profitability.
  • Five-star rating, our CAPS community's highest rank.             

You can review my results in full if you like; here are some of the highlights:

Company

Market Cap
(in Billions)

Current Ratio

Return on Equity (TTM)

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

$172.3

1.8

27.5%

National Grid (NYSE:NGG)

$22.9

1.0

23.9%

PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP)

$95.1

1.3

36.3%

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB)

$76.9

1.8

22.7%

Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

$28.8

1.6

19.2%

Waste Management (NYSE:WM)

$14.2

1.1

15.9%

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI)

$24.5

1.0

17.4%

Data from Motley Fool CAPS as of Oct. 12, 2009. TTM = trailing 12 months.

While the CAPS screen can suggest all kinds of promising companies, running a screen should be only the first step in your stock research. Come join our CAPS online investing community (it's totally free) to delve further into these companies, and see whether they're right for your portfolio.

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