Hot Stocks You're Buying Now

Welcome back to another Foolish review of the hottest stocks as ranked by Motley Fool CAPS. We're looking at the three best-performing industries over the past 30 days and your favorite long and short candidates in each.

Last week, and two weeks prior, natural gas explorers were exploding, but not this time. Jewelers like Blue Nile (NASDAQ:NILE) have proven to be dazzling and, as a group, top the hotheads with an 18.3% average gain over the last 30 days.

Who are the other hotties? Have a look:

• Insurers, for the second straight week, are underwriting returns for investors, who've watched this group advance by 17.8% over the last 30 days.
• And in third -- get this -- are subprime lenders, who've beaten the chill to produce 16.5% average returns as a group over the past month.

According to you, our Foolish readers, the best stocks in these industries to own now -- i.e., those with four or five of the maximum five stars in CAPS -- are:

And your favorite short candidates -- i.e., those rated with one or two stars in CAPS -- are:

Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think by signing up for CAPS today. It's 100% free to participate.

Cap off your day with related CAPS Foolishness:

• Go for value.
• Or for growth.
• Or for dividends.
• Or for global gainers.
• Or take a look at Wall Street's wish list.
• Or check out the stocks the funds are buying.

Blue Nile is a pick of both the Hidden Gems and Rule Breakers services. Amazon and CompuCredit are Stock Advisor recommendations.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers, who is ranked 7,060 out of more than 29,200 rated players in CAPS, didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story at the time of publication. Tim's portfolio holdings can be found at his Fool profile. His thoughts on hot stocks, Foolishness, and investing in general may be found in his blog. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy is hotter than city asphalt in the summer heat.