10 Stocks Shaking the Market

In music they're called one-hit wonders, singers who belt out tunes but are never able to regain the magic of their big hit song. Think Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" or Brownsville Station's "Smokin' in the Boys Room." Monster hits never to be repeated.

We have seen similar one-hit wonders in stocks, like Pets.com or drkoop.com. Companies that burst on the scene -- many during the tech bubble heyday -- and failed to live up to the promise they held.

Whole lotta shakin' going on
While nostalgia's fun, "10 Stocks Shaking the Market" isn't about finding stocks that can't repeat their success, it's about looking at those that have made big moves and are likely to continue doing so.

To do that, we're looking at the 10 stocks that made some of the biggest moves up yesterday. We'll pair that with the ratings issued by our Motley Fool CAPS community. Higher ratings suggest that the members believe they'll continue to move higher in the future and outperform the market.

In the 20 months since we first began tracking the collective intelligence at CAPS in late 2006, the data shows that newly minted five-star stocks offer the best opportunities for investors, while the lowest-rated companies fared the worst. Four-star stocks outperformed the market by seven percentage points, and five-star stocks -- top honors in CAPS -- did even better.

Most of these stocks are viewed favorably by CAPS members, as evidenced by their ratings of three stars or better, but we're going to zero in on some of those earning a four- or five-star endorsement.

Melco Crown Entertainment
Investors must be envisioning a City of Dreams of their own as they pushed Melco's shares higher yesterday after the Macau casino operator said the worldwide credit crunch wasn't interfering with its plans to open its new casino early next year. But Macau gambling revenue in general has been slumping and China is cracking down on issuing visas to its citizens to visit the island.

Despite the troubles the island is experiencing, CAPS members seem to think that Melco will overcome what ought to be thought of as a temporary setback. Freddmo figures that even with the credit woes, Macau will benefit as gambling closer to home becomes the cheaper alternative.

This stock has no where to go but up. Macau gambling revenues can only be helped by the current money crisis in the world. People in Asia will opt to gamble closer to home rather than travel and Macau is the logical choice. At less than $4 a share the house will definitely be a winner on this one!

National Oilwell Varco
With analysts forecasting National Oilwell to post yet another consecutive quarter of better-than-expected results, investors drilled deep to push this industry equipment maker higher. CAPS member GenChaos figures that with all the talk of offshore drilling getting the green light, a company that makes the machinery to fuel that demand ought to do well.

Wow what a bargain. These guys are one of the few companies in the world that can make the equipment needed for drilling rigs. With even the dems talking up offshore drilling it's a good bet they'll do good business in the next few years.

With both presidential candidates promising more drilling to come, CAPS member maxhoffa figures the market's current slump will be a distant memory soon and Varco will be moving forward.

There will be lots of volatility for a while, expect traders to look to capitalize on any gains along the bottom here for a bit, but once the market starts trending up for good, you don't want to miss this stock. Should outperform the market for the foreseeable future.... [National Oilwell] is well positioned to benefit from either party holding the White House.

Shake, rattle, and roll
With these stocks shaking the market yesterday it pays to start your own research on them at Motley Fool CAPS. Read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made -- all from a stock's CAPS page.