However hard the market slams a stock, there's always the chance it'll come bouncing right back. We'll consult our Motley Fool CAPS community to find shares on the rebound, examining one specific sector of the economy in search of companies with rising CAPS ratings.          

There are 163 stocks listed under metals & mining in the CAPS' screener, but we've unearthed more than a few with four- and five-star ratings. Those accolades mean our 160,000 CAPS members are confident that these stocks will beat the market in the months ahead, but let's see what members are saying about the ones below:

Company

CAPS Rating Today
(out of 5)

Recent Price

52-Week Price Change

Est. 5-Year Growth Rate

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX)

****

$80.80

97%

15%

Rubicon Minerals (NYSE: RBY)

****

$3.70

142%

NA

Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW)

****

$17.15

112%

12%

Source: Motley Fool CAPS; Yahoo! Finance.

As the broader market averages continue to stage a pretty bold recovery, metal and mining stocks have done even better with the average company nearly doubling in value from the year ago period. Of course, those returns include some strong performances not only from the companies above but also General Moly (NYSE: GMO), which jumped 133%, and Polymet Mining (NYSE: PLM), which tripled in value.

So let's take a closer look at why investors think that some of these other companies won't be jumping from the frying pan into the fire from the market's lofty heights.

Some spring in its step
Late last year CAPS All-Star member xiaolifeidao looked at the premium Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) paid for Gold Eagle Mines' Bruce Channel discovery -- a deposit adjacent to Goldcorp's prolific Red Lake district. This member figured Rubicon Minerals was worth significantly more than what it was trading for at the time because its flagship Phoenix property sits right in the middle of Red Lake.

So if we assume the similar formula applies to [Rubicon], then in 1-1.5 yrs from now(rby has drilled in phoenix project for 1.5 yrs), [Rubicon] should be valued as 1.5B*(1-0.19)=1.22B, which means 45% increase from the current price. Considering Phoenix is just one property [Rubicon] owns in red lake, [Rubicon] should have much higher value. So 45% increase is a very minimum, conservative estimate.

Today Rubicon trades at about the same valuation it had at the time the pitch for the gold miner was made, but arguably its prospects have only gotten better. This seems like a nugget of opportunity.

No need for goldplating
You don't have to walk lockstep with the opponents of President Obama's free-spending ways to see that somewhere down the road that such spend will lead to increase inflationary pressures. And with dollar inflation, commodities priced in dollars are likely to become very valuable.

The goldbugs tout their precious metal, but Freeport-McMoRan has a sizeable stash of gold, silver, and copper and so it seems like a big winner to me. Global demand for copper, gold, and molybdenum were the forces behind Freeport's 1,800% year-over-year gain in first -quarter profits.

With the pundits agreeing that Freeport is one of the best-run operations out there, CAPS member JPNot is looking for it to capture even more share.

Most analysts agree that [Freeport McMoRan] is one of the best run companies out there. I love the stock because of: a) Its international and emerging markets exposure; b) Its large share of the global copper market and current odds of copper prices going higher; ... It gives some indirect exposure to gold, an inflation hedge.

Though it's still not at full capacity, the miner expects to record higher sales in the second half of the year, with full year sales coming in at 3.8 billion pounds of copper, 1.8 million ounces of gold, and 62 million pounds of molybdenum -- all of which is down from 2009 levels. And if molybdenum maintains its demand patterns, look for other molybdenum miners, such as U.S. Energy (Nasdaq: USEG), to score nice premiums too.

Silver, like gold, may be more susceptible to the volatility associated with the dollar -- when the SEC charged Goldman Sachs with fraud, the dollar soared and precious metals including gold and silver fell -- but Silver Wheaton should benefit from the longer term trends too. In particular DMNfool likes its position as a low-cost producer.

low silver production costs locked at today's manufacturing costs as the only /exclusive buyer of all produced silver at several mines in South America. Silver costs are locked in for future as silver demand increases.

The ball's in your court
There are many factors that go into whether a stock is a buy or sell, so 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. Head over to CAPS today and share your thoughts with other investor analysts on whether you think these stocks are ready to bound higher.