Dream Stocks for Energy Investors

Investors are always hunting for the next big stock -- the dream stock whose price increases several times over when the market finally discovers it. It's easy to look back and discover the 10 best stocks of the past decade. But I'm more interested in the tools that can help me evaluate tomorrow's greatest companies.

Motley Fool CAPS offers a variety of resources to aid Fools in finding tomorrow's leaders. Our 130,000-member community is full of investors helping each other beat the market.

We'll enlist CAPS to screen for energy-related companies, then get the story behind some of its more highly rated stocks. CAPS' nifty screener will help us find stocks with:

• A market cap of at least $100 million.
• A three-year revenue growth rate of at least 20%.
• A price-to-earnings ratio of less than 25.

Then we'll tap the collective intelligence of our CAPS members to see whether these companies present real opportunities -- or whether the numbers fail to tell the true story.

Opinions with the numbers
Below is a sample of stocks our screen returned. You can run this screen yourself -- remember, though, that your results may differ from ours as the market changes.

Data and star rankings from CAPS as of April 17.

ATP Oil & Gas
Differing from players like Chesapeake Energy and XTO Energy, ATP works only offshore, with the sole strategy of acquiring other companies’ proved undeveloped reserves and developing them. It’s had a 98% development success rate since inception and reported record revenues in 2008 of $618 million, along with record net income and a reserve replacement of 214%. ATP recently partnered with GE (NYSE:GE) unit GE Energy Financial Services on a floating oil and gas production facility in the Gulf of Mexico, allowing the immediate recognition of $150 million. With a solid track record and more potential ahead, 95% of the 427 CAPS members rating ATP expect it to outperform the market.

Atwood Oceanics
The volatile economic environment has forced land driller Precision Drilling Trust (NYSE:PDS) to scramble into new financing while Hercules Offshore (NASDAQ:HERO) is putting some old rigs up for sale that some see as a desperation play. For its part, Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation Atwood Oceanics is still looking for a new contract for its Southern Cross rig, which brought in tremendous dayrates last year.

But Atwood recently announced a new contract for its Richmond rig in the Gulf of Mexico, expected to start after completion of its current contract with Contango. In February, the offshore driller reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that doubled and revenue that jumped 49% to $165.5 million. And though prices for services have recently dropped dramatically, many CAPS members still like the long-term contracts that many of Atwood's rigs are locked into, contracts that continue to bring in consistent revenue during tough times. As such, an overwhelming 99% of the 1,829 CAPS members rating Atwood Oceanics expect it to beat the market average.

Chesapeake Energy
Chesapeake has responded to the plunging energy prices of last year by reducing capital expenditures and hedging production. The downturn has also provided new opportunities, like its fire-sale acquisition of a Texas natural gas field from Parallel Petroleum, increasing its already-owned share. With big oil companies like ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) not completely replacing what they’re producing, some investors expect the supply decrease to bring an eventual return to high oil prices, which could in turn spark the demand for alternative fuels like natural gas. Boatloads of CAPS members are behind Chesapeake, with 97% of the 6,655 members rating the firm expecting it to beat the S&P in the future.

Let 130,000 members be the jury
The collective wisdom of a huge pool of investors can help give context to a page of numbers from a stock screen -- but individual investors are still the judge. Fools should always perform their own due diligence.

Run your favorite factors through the Motley Fool CAPS screener. It's totally free, and we think you'll like the results.