Drink In These 5 Top Stocks

Whether it's the corporate lunchroom, your cubicle, or the local watering hole after work, there are regular places we gather to discuss news, sports or -- if you're like us -- stocks. Here at Motley Fool CAPS, we gather around the virtual water cooler daily to rate stocks and delve into their merits as investments.

Our 135,000-strong CAPS community -- where members give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down to some 5,300 stocks -- has earned its points by seeking out the businesses it thinks will outperform the market. Below we'll take a look at some of the top stocks in the CAPS universe that you're talking about the most and whether you think they'll continue their winning ways.

A tall drink of water
With the F-22 from Lockheed Martin losing out in the dogfight between Congress and the White House, the defense contractor saw its presidential helicopter program and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter survive the budget axe. It looks like the latter will be one of the more important programs to Lockheed's future as the Pentagon may order as many as 3,000 of the stealth fighters over the next decade. Foreign buyers could double that number. At a cost far lower than the F-22 ($40 million to $60 million compared with $300 million), Lockheed may even earn the grudging respect of congressional doves.

Investors remain concerned about what the impact will be to Lockheed's short-term operations. Highly rated CAPS All-Star member ws6transam said we shouldn't expect to see much from the stock for the time being:

Loss of production on the F-22; Unsure F-35 production climate means LMT might drift for the next few months. Lockheed is a great company to work with but their customer base & revenue stream is somewhat unstable and unpredictable at this time. Coincidentally, LMT released press photos of the F-35 in Thunderbirds regalia this week. I hope the F-35 turns out to be a moneymaker for LMT, but after seeing our dovish government blow a trillion dollars in one year, I am doubtful the program will be funded enough to make the aircraft profitable beyond break-even, if even that.

Another shot of reality
The Cash for Clunkers program has proved more popular than the government expected, and funding was set to run out months ahead of schedule until Congress began considering pumping another $2 billion into it. And why not? Many people undoubtedly are getting free money to buy cars they already would have purchased, and car dealers are selling more of the cars they would've sold anyway.

Toyota (NYSE:TM) announced that its Corolla surpassed the Focus from Ford (NYSE:F) in July as the clunker program boosted sales, and that it was one of the top 10 selling brands. But the Corolla has always been a favorite brand and typically lands on the best-sellers list. The program basically comes down to just a huge handout, but not a particularly efficient one.

While it might not move the needle all that much, car reseller Copart might make out on the deal too. As dealers fear they're going to get caught with too many trade-ins they can't sell -- but for which they've already committed to giving $4,500 -- Copart has offered to help with some of the dealer's costs. For a company that makes money assisting insurance companies and others move totaled cars, it is an opportunity to expand its contacts that could lead to more business down the road.

CAPS member orangeyellowdog says that as more cars go to the auto graveyard, there's more opportunity for Copart to expand.

Lots of cars are going to the grave and less folks in the market for new cars = parts growth & expansion of centers... Car accidents are not going away anytime soon as well = more demand for parts and graves for dead cars.

Gather 'round
The CAPS community is like trying to take a sip from a fire hose. With so many good opinions about today's top companies why not grab a pointy paper cup from the dispenser and join us at the Motley Fool CAPS water cooler where your input can help guide other investors to stocks with bright prospects for growth? 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.

Sign up today for the completely free service and let us hear what you have to say about the great and almost great companies that interest you.