A 1-in-100 Investor

The first 100 days in office sets the tone for any new president. Motley Fool CAPS also keeps an eye 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. Because data shows that the best stocks to buy and sell are the ones with 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 pokeytax, who sports a near-perfect 99.94 member rating. pokeytax has 126 active picks out of more than 440 stock picks made on CAPS since becoming a member in January 2007.

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 by which a member is beating (lagging) the S&P 500 index from the time of the call.

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

Research In Motion
There's a lot of consternation developing for Research In Motion because of the announcement that Apple (NYSE:AAPL) will begin selling its iPhones at Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) stores. While a $99 iPhone would seem to pressure RIM's BlackBerry, does a smartphone for every man lose some of the cachet of a typical Apple product? CAPS member SwordAgain thinks the competitive pressures are more than enough to drive RIM down.

Going the way of every company whose products become commodity items in a highly competitive environment. The premium for [Research in Motion] has disappeared for good but the investor community is still starry-eyed optimistic over a return thereto. This leaves a ripe plucking yet to come on the downside.

Newmont Mining
Considering the money Uncle Sam has already pumped into the economy, along with the massive public works project President-elect Barack Obama is preparing, concerns about deflation could seem a quaint notion soon enough. CAPS member tdoodler writes that gold remains a perfect hedge as a result and that Newmont Mining will be a winner.

In light of all the incredible stimulus all around the world, inflation at some point seems to be inevitable. In fact isnt that what the world governments are trying to do-reinflate the economy? Since, i dont think you can ever "catch" a bottom-and I dont see gold dropping more than 10% from this point-I'm in. Looking to 2009, I believe gold will out perform the S&P.

Starbucks
While the numbers seem to work in Starbucks' favor, CAPS member 30andholding still thinks the company will underperform the market as the recession leads people to think there might be better places to spend their money.

Ahh coffee. Maybe I'm too old, but I remember when the only thing cheaper than coffee was water. Good times.... These days it seems that both coffee and water are in need of a correction. The economy is in recession, and I don't think that in a recession people will be paying $4.00 for a coffee no matter how much cream and sugar you add to it. The other issue I think this company will have to face, is that people are cutting out the Caramel lattes and more to the point, have been for a while. How long before they decide that they just generally don't need to spend the extra money on what amounts to an overpriced, coffee flavored, hot, milkshake even when the economy recovers.

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. It's free to sign up, so why not use this opportunity to take your best shot?