All-Star Stocks

Win or lose, we've all got an opinion about which stocks are rockets, and which are dogs. If we could invest like Peter Lynch or Mohnish Pabrai, we'd probably have a lot more companies in our win column than on the loss side of the ledger. Warren Buffett began buying railroads last year, and just about any company that ran on tracks came into play.

So when top-notch investors back a stock, you might want to give it more consideration. Over on our investor collaboration site, Motley Fool CAPS, we can do just that. On CAPS, players who've earned a rating of 80 or better by consistently outperforming their peers are dubbed All-Stars. Sometimes, these ace investors will back a stock that others think is a dog. Considering the All-Stars' track records, we might want to look a little more closely at their selections.

Here are five companies that have been marked down by some investors, but enjoy unanimous All-Star backing:

Of course, this isn't a list of stocks to buy and sell; instead, it should serve as a starting point for your own research and analysis.

Git 'r done
Whenever you read a business description for an IT firm, the definition usually sounds as amorphous as the term "information technology," making it difficult to discern exactly what the company does. Telvent Git is no exception, describing itself as the "IT company for a sustainable and secure world, specializ(ing) in high value-added products, services and integrated solutions." Sounds great -- and I want one of whatever it's selling -- but what does it do?

Well, a lot of what it does is consulting work, the sort you'd expect from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) or the IT consultants at IBM (NYSE: IBM). Primarily in Europe, but also in the U.S. and several other countries, Telvent aims to help companies integrate systems and industrial processes. While it mainly focuses on the energy field, it also serves transportation, environmental, and public administration systems. For example, a few years ago, it won a contract to modernize and develop Beirut's traffic management systems.

Perhaps because of the nebulous nature of Telvent's mission, or its quiet status as a subsidiary of Spain's Abengoa group, it flies under Wall Street's radar. Shares have generally traded in the mid-$20s for the past year. Although Telvent has a seemingly attractive price-to-sales ratio, given its historical growth rate, it actually trades at a premium to rivals like EDS (NYSE: EDS) on a comparable basis, and to most of its industry on a trailing earnings valuation.

Even so, investors are attracted to the broad diversification of industries and markets that Telvent serves. CAPS All-Star hondo928 finds that despite some slippage in valuation, the company's presence in the various emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China helps buffer against a slowdown in any one of them:

This is my oldest active pick and I don't have a pitch on it, but basically I was playing the merging market trend, they are diversified into multiple emerging markets so that even if China cools off a little like I am begging to suspect it will, unfortunately, people should look into other BRIC countries as well as other emerging Markets be it South Africa, Chile or Russia. While the fundamentals have decreased in value they are still there for a little more of a ride.

Other CAPS investors acknowledge the complex nature of the services Telvent offers, but reddingrunner finds that, if nothing else, the promise of streamlining inefficient operations should be an "easy sale." As that player wrote last November, "It's a complicated IT company, but basically they have a unique and diverse niche approach to helping businesses and governments save money and improve efficiency."

An all-star act
A few CAPS investors have bet against the house here, but we haven't yet heard from you. Why not head over to Motley Fool CAPS now and let us know what you think about Telvent and your other favorite investments. It's completely free, and along with the other 89,000 investors on CAPS, you may help uncover the next All-Star Stock.