A 1-in-100 Investor

Just as the first 100 days in office set the tone for any new president, Motley Fool CAPS keeps an eye as well on how investors do in their first 100 days. Some of our best -- we call them All-Stars -- have achieved scores of 100 on stock selections in their first 100 days on CAPS. Since data shows that the best stocks to buy and sell have earned top ratings, might we also assume that when the best players rate the best stocks, there is a correlation?

One of our highest-rated CAPS members is alstry, who sports a nearly perfect 99.95 member rating. A member since January 2008, alstry currently has 59 active picks on CAPS out of more than 200 stock picks made. Achieving 75% accuracy, alstry has also attracted 105 "groupies," CAPS players who've listed this leading investor as one of their favorites.

Here are a few of this top member's most recent stock selections and how they were rated.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS.
*Price when call was made. Current score is how many points a member is beating (lagging) the S&P 500 index from the time of the call.

Let's see what other CAPS members are saying about some of these stocks, and whether they agree with this top player's assessment.

ProShares UltraShort Financials
Unsurprisingly, not only has alstry picked ProShares UltraShort Financials ETF to outperform the market, but the CAPS member has also doubled down by picking Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to underperform. It also seems that alstry may not be as bearish on financials now as a week ago -- the player's pick was closed out today.

Although the financials ETF had a momentary breakdown amid the ill-advised -- let alone useless -- SEC ban on shorting stocks, the sorry state of the financial markets, even after massive injections of "confidence" from the federal government, continues to highlight why some CAPS members see this ETF as a winner.

CAPS member jowenmofield finds plenty of reasons to believe that the overall market will test new lows, possibly as a result of the financial sector.

The Dow closed at 8,852.22 down 127.04 points on … October 17, 2008. As everyone knows we have broken key technical support on all indices. We may have seen a short-term low in Dow on Friday, October 10, 2008 at 7,773.71. I am still of the opinion that we may still see the Dow approach 7,000 which would be a significant technical long-term support point. If we don't see the Dow break 9,500 next week then we may go back and retest sub 8,000 in the Dow and other indices. We will continue to see unbelievable volatility on a intraday basis for all the major indices.

DuPont
Like an approaching hurricane looming on the horizon, DuPont management says a recession is coming, though whether it's a Category 1 or a Category 5 remains to be seen. When the company reported third-quarter earnings, Hurricane Ike's havoc cost it a $227 million charge.

Although earnings were lower than analysts had anticipated, they actually beat expectations after factoring out one-time items by about 10%. Revenue was higher as a result of its diversity of businesses -- everything from Kevlar to agriculture enjoyed a special boost from emerging markets. Top-rated CAPS All-Star member DemonDoug thinks the body-armor products will particularly help bulletproof the stock over the long haul. He penned this pitch in July:

[DuPont] has been around for 206 years, is involved in a lot of diverse things, the most exciting of which right now is agriculture. The most important thing I personally use from [DuPont] is Kevlar. No, I'm no a cop or a marine, although Kevlar has helped save likely countless lives in the streets and on the battlefield. I am, however, a fire performer. ... I am recommending [DuPont] based on their ability to innovate and create products like Kevlar. ... [DuPont] also makes a fiber called Nomex. ... It's a flame-resistant fiber, and if you've ever watched a Nascar, IRL, or NHRA (hot rod) race, you have seen drivers wearing Nomex.

You can read the full pitch -- and a description of how to make a "fire poi," which uses Kevlar -- on the DuPont CAPS page.

A 1-in-100 opportunity
Some of the best and smartest members in the CAPS investor-intelligence community have made their mark, but it pays to start your own research on these stocks on 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.

As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once noted, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." At Motley Fool CAPS every investor's opinion counts and since it's free to sign up, why not use this opportunity to take your best shot?