"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." This old saying sums up the worst nightmare of every homeowner, every gold buyer, and every investor in today's market. Dare ye buy at the top?

Every day, MSN Money publishes a list of the market's top stocks -- the companies whose shares have just hit their highest intraday price of any time in the past 52 weeks. Every day, investors read this list and tremble -- some with greed (big mo', baby!), and others in pure, unmitigated, acrophobic terror (whatever you do, don't look down).

Over on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors just like you are watching these same companies and voting their gut on whether they'll keep rising or stumble and fall. Usually, the ratings wax optimistic as stocks hit new highs -- because everyone loves a winner. But what do you make of it when some of the smartest investors out there are panning a hot stock?

You could heed them. You could ignore them. You could take the stock tickers and construct anagrams from 'em. For my money, though, the best course of action is to use the "52-week highs" list as just a starting point for further research. After all, stocks can go up for many reasons, and it's up to you to decide how worthy those reasons are. But thanks to Motley Fool CAPS, now you don't have to make the decision alone.

With that said, let's meet today's list of contenders, drawn from the latest "52-week highs" list at MSN Money. What does our panel of more than 28,000 stock gurus (and counting) have to say about them?

One year ago today

Currently fetching

CAPS rating

Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL)

$90.08

$115.39

*****

Alliant TechSystems (NYSE:ATK)

$83.39

$96.61

****

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO)

$79.76

$104.41

****

MasterCard (NYSE:MA)

n/a

$134.66  

***

Energizer (NYSE:ENR)

$50.70

$101.19

*
*Five stars = highest possible CAPS rating; one star = lowest. Companies are selected from the "New 52-Week Highs" list published on MSN Money on the Saturday following close of trading last week. CAPS ratings from Motley Fool CAPS.

Everybody loves a winner
When stocks soar higher, ever higher on the wings of success, bears become rare. So it's no surprise that investors love most of the stocks on today's list. The sole exception: Energizer Holdings. More than one CAPS player in four thinks this bunny is running on empty. Worse still, among CAPS All-Stars, nearly one in three thinks Energizer is going, and going, and going -- off a cliff.

Build-a-bear, anyone?
Energizer bulls don't give us much basis for thinking Energizer is a buy. Their comments are limited to praising the stock's "great chart" and cheering "run bunny!" Unfortunately, our bears this week are similarly short on detail. Among CAPS All-Stars, two have chimed in with laconic comments alluding to "shrinking margins" and "the rising price of zinc." No matter. I can handle this one:

With a trailing P/E of 21, and growth estimated to max out at less than 10% per year over the next five years, Energizer appears very pricey. At its current level, many value investors would consider the stock significantly overpriced.

See how simple it is to write a CAPS pitch? Why, to paraphrase the GEICO commercials, "it's so easy, even a bear can do it." So if you see a stock on today's list that deserves a good panning -- whether it's Energizer or any of our other contenders -- come on over to CAPS and give it a try.

Motley Fool CAPS: It's fun, it's free, and it just might make you famous.

MasterCard has delivered a return of almost 200% since it was selected for Motley Fool Inside Value last July. Click here to see all of the selections for this service.

Fool contributor Rich Smith does not own shares of any company named above. You can find him on CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handle TMFDitty, where he's currently ranked 520th out of more than 28,000 raters.