Tomorrow's Monster Stocks

Stocks that climb to 10 times their original price are a rare breed -- but they're not impossible to find. Especially when you have Fools for friends.

The market's best stocks include companies that have risen hundreds of times in value over the past decade. These aren't penny stocks; they're viable companies with sound business prospects, achieving phenomenal returns every year. Finding just one or two of these monstrously successful companies can help you establish a winning portfolio.

Stalking the monster
To find tomorrow's monster stocks, we'll enlist the more than 105,000 investors at Motley Fool CAPS. We've compiled a list of the most successful CAPS players, dubbed All-Stars, whose picks have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled in price. Then we've plucked some of their recent picks for stocks they find equally promising.

Of course, this is not a list of stocks to buy -- or, for those monster stocks that our CAPS All-Stars have already found, sell. Just consider them starting points for your own further research.

Ironman competition
The $98.6 million box office gross for its opening weekend made Iron Man the top movie release so far this year. In fact, having grossed more than $222 million so far, it is already the top-grossing movie all year. And as a movie that's not a sequel, it ranks second only to Spider-Man, which raked in $114 million, in having the biggest domestic opening ever. It didn't take studio honchos long to figure out that what was needed was an Iron Man sequel.

It's no wonder, then, that Marvel Entertainment -- the company behind both franchises -- has seen its stock surge since the start of the month. Add in a stellar earnings report that saw the comic-book-character warehouse raise earnings guidance for the year, and shares are up more than 17% so far for May, and more than 26% for the last 12 months.

Perhaps most importantly for Marvel with the Iron Man franchise, is that the movie is the company's first fully self-financed production. The arrangement carried risks for the Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation -- just look at the flop that was Speed Racer. Yet it turned out to be a smashing success. The movie cost just $150 million to make, and Viacom picked up the tab for the $75 million in marketing costs for which it received a flat fee. With Robert Downey Jr. agreeing to reprise his role in the sequel set for release in 2010, this could be a monster franchise with the stickiness of Spider-Man's web.

It's the incredible cast of characters from which Marvel has to choose that has investors like CAPS player fthfool seeing Hulk-green for it:

Solid balance sheet! Tons of cash and they have now entered into the real entertainment business which is movie making. [It's] risky but the rewards $$$. They will pull this off and I believe in a big way! Can't you see that hi tech special effects are dominating the movie theaters. What better company can capitalize on that with 5,000 plus super [heroes] character.

It was undoubtedly Downey's performance as the movie's hero that catapulted Iron Man to the stratosphere. Here is CAPS investor tim882's view from the balcony:

Marvel Entertainment is looking good for the foreseeable future. Turning a B-list superhero like Iron Man into the box-office blockbuster it was speaks well for the company over the next 3 years. Captain America, Iron Man 2, and the Avengers movie will all be massive, massive box office hits.

A chance for scary growth
Now's the opportunity for you to marvel at the likes of Marvel or any of the other stocks these All-Stars see as achieving monster growth. Agree with their views? Tell us on CAPS. If you don't agree, let us know that, too! If you've got an opinion, then this is the place where your voice counts just as much as everyone else's. Are these tomorrow's monster stocks that have been uncovered today.