Dream Stocks for Growth 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 160,000-member community is full of investors helping each other beat the market.

We'll enlist CAPS to screen for growth 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 $500 million.
• A trailing-three-year earnings-per-share growth rate of at least 20%.
• A trailing-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.

Data and star rankings from CAPS as of April 9.

Bucyrus
Shares of Bucyrus and competitor Joy Global (Nasdaq: JOYG) have almost completely put the economic downturn behind them, with both recently breaking out to new 52-week highs. And while many investors believe that stocks are now back in overvalued territory, investment bank Goldman Sachs still likes Bucyrus, recently adding the mining equipment maker to its conviction buy list.

Many CAPS members have maintained their bullish call on the stock, too, as Bucyrus expects to further expand its market with the purchase of Terex's (NYSE: TEX) mining equipment business. If the company can pull off a successful integration, the acquisition could deliver significant growth, which is one reason 97% of the 1,119 CAPS members rating Bucyrus expect the stock to beat the market in the future.                   

Hansen Natural
Is there anything that can stop this monster stock? Apparently not. Hansen Natural has already established itself as a top performer over the past decade with help from the growth of its Monster energy drink, and many CAPS members see plenty of long-term potential left in the stock.

The company continued to increase revenue in 2009 and has seen good results so far from its distribution deals with Anheuser-Busch and Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE). In addition to the Monster brand's strength in the U.S., Hansen is pushing forward with its international expansion in Europe and other parts of the world where the brand has yet to be discovered. In CAPS, 93% of the 1,777 members rating Hansen Natural vote for the stock to continue its market-beating ways.

The Buckle
The Buckle has managed to do better than just keep its head above water throughout the downturn; the popular clothing retailer recently turned in an earnings report showing growing profits and revenue for the fourth quarter and full year 2009.

A recent uptick in the retail environment led The Buckle and other retailers, like Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), to post increasing same-store sales in March, and some investors see qualities that set The Buckle apart from others and portend well for its future growth. About 88% o the 450 CAPS members rating The Buckle expect it to outperform the S&P.

Let 160,000 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 best judges of what to do with their own money. Fools should always perform their own due diligence.

Happily, it's easy to chime in with your own opinion. If you agree that these companies present dream opportunities -- or see more of a nightmare instead -- simply scroll down and add your thoughts in the comments box.