When a stock hits a fresh high, it can be on its way to greatness -- or it may have run its course. Even with the risk of the latter, searching for these outperformers can reveal companies that are doing something right, much to their investors' delight.

Let's dig deeper
With that in mind, we'll use the aggregate intelligence of the 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS to find stocks hitting 52-week highs today. The community's approval (signified by four- and five-star ratings) could be a sign that further research is in order.

Here are three such stocks:

Company

Today's Intraday Price

Industry

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

Fools Saying Outperform

Eldorado Gold (USA) (AMEX:EGO)

$11.11

Metals and Mining

3 Stars

539 of 570

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX)

$19.48

Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure

2 Stars

5,675 of 7,380

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP)

$28.18

Software

4 Stars

247 of 261

Source: Motley Fool CAPS, as of Aug. 13, 2009.

Top-rated metals and mining companies:

  • Rubicon Minerals (USA) (AMEX:RBY): Stock price is 132% higher than last year.
  • Aluminum Corp. of China (ADR) (NYSE:ACH): Stock price is 47% higher than last year.

Top-rated hotels, restaurants, and leisure companies:

  • Ctrip.com International (ADR) (NASDAQ:CTRP): Stock price is 19% higher than last year.
  • Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG-B): Stock price is 19% higher than last year.

Join us on CAPS to learn more about these and countless other interesting stock ideas.