Top-Rated Stocks the Leaders Loathe

Momentum investors are stock players who climb onboard with companies that have the wind in their sails. Contrarian investors have an eye for the cigar butts the market has tossed aside. So what do you call investors who turn against winners? Sourpusses? Shorts?

Over on Motley Fool CAPS, we sometimes call them the savviest investors around. Not only does the 77,000-strong investor-intelligence community rate thousands of stocks every day, but the players themselves are rated, too. The best of the lot -- what CAPS calls All-Stars -- consistently outperform their peers over time and are assigned ratings of 80 or greater.

When an All-Star player sours on a top-rated stock, perhaps we should take notice. Perhaps the player's found a chink in that highflier's armor, or a question mark in its financial footnotes. Or maybe it's a hunch. That's why these tables aren't lists of stocks to buy or sell -- just starting points for further research.

Here's a list of stocks that some All-Stars have recently given the thumbs-down to:

More than 1,800 investors have rated these stocks, with an average 97% of them bullish on their prospects, and 94% of all All-Stars also think they'll outperform the market. What might have turned some of CAPS' top players against these otherwise widely admired companies?

Gold's not all that glitters
Typically gold, and all precious metals, have been where investors flee to in times of economic turmoil. That's the reason why some of Great Basin Gold's top investors have chosen it to outperform the market. One-third of all investors rating the gold digger are considered All-Stars, but only one has given it a thumbs-down.

With that said, Great Basin is a bit speculative, even for a gold company, because it is an advanced exploration company. It has not yet had the results of rivals like Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) or Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), but while it hasn't started pulling gold out of its mines yet, it has been conducting feasibility studies that show promise. Their mines appear to have some rich veins, and if they're successful investors could do well.

That's why CAPS player junglejim95538 likes it, because he thinks it has some of the best mines for proven gold deposits. "Has two gold pits in the best areas in the world for gold mining nevada and [Witwatersrand] area of [South Africa] with large proven gold reserves and have started building mines at both locations," our CAPS investor says. 

Top-rated All-Star TMFSmashy likes management as well as Great Basin's prospects of going for the gold: "Near-producer, appears to have high grade mines. I like the Hunter Dickinson pedigree and the balance sheet."

Before closing out his picks on CAPS, another All-Star bridgeboy0 had weighed in with the top bear pitch against Great Basin. It was not necessarily for the company's prospects, but more of a macroeconomic view that would be decided by how the U.S. economy responded. "I'm predicting a short-term pull back in the precious metals," bridgeboy0 writes. "The deciding factor on whether this will be successful or not is will the general market pull back less or more than the metals."

Make lemonade from lemons
We've seen both sides here, but Motley Fool CAPS is more than what some investors think, even if they're All-Stars. It's where we invite you to share your thoughts and insights and add your voice to the debate. Go ahead, have your say. We're eagerly waiting!

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