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, too, like Pets.com or drkoop.com. These companies burst on the scene -- many during the tech bubble heyday -- and never lived 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 then pair that with the ratings issued by our Motley Fool CAPS community. Those higher ratings suggest that members believe these stocks will continue to move higher in the future and outperform the market.

In the first 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.

Half of these stocks are not viewed favorably by the members of CAPS, as they have less than three star ratings, so instead we're going to zero in on some of those earning a four- or five-star endorsement.

Verizon
It's not an easy task to post a 31% increase in earnings in this economic climate, but Verizon was able to do just that by getting a boost from its wireless division. The telecom provider has been able to dial up profits by adding 1.5 million new customers -- beyond those brought in with its Rural Cellular acquisition. Yet the future might not be static free: AT&T (NYSE:T) has made strong inroads by virtue of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone. Verizon's answer will come with the introduction of the much-awaited BlackBerry Storm by Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), which is due out soon.

Whatever the current economic conditions might be, CAPS member PEG1765 believes Verizon's infrastructure investments will be the payoff investors are looking for.

Verizon has been hit unfairly in the current economic times, and while it is easy to point to the near term and say consumer demand will drive poorer than current sales for [Verizon] Wireless, which seems to be the bell weather division for the company, I believe in the 2-4 year range, as the economy goes on the rise again, that Verizon's overall network investment will start showing why it has been a great foundation. Detractors have noted that Telecoms will be changing, and that is true, but network demand, reach, and capacity will only grow. The FiOS buildout and a continued commitment to network is the key to the telecom future.

Vimpel Communications
There's nothing stable about how business is run in Russia these days -- China looks like the Rock of Gibraltar in comparison. VimpelCom found itself at the center of a court decision that showed how mercurial things are there. A large shareholder in Vimpelcom was allowed to sidestep a margin call of the telecom's stock it had posted as collateral. The Siberian court served to increase the level of uncertainty of doing business in the country. Vimpelcom's shares have fallen, along with much of the Russian stock market, as the country's leaders have attempted to reassert their authority on the world stage.

CAPS member zues2 dismisses the political considerations that have driven Vimpelcom down and feels the stock will ultimately rebound.

Some of the good Russian stocks, that are profitable, growing, and high market share in necessary industries have just gotten beaten down too much for political reasons. [Vimpel] is one in this group.

Shake, rattle, and roll
With these 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.