Tomorrow's Monster Stock?

Stocks climbing to 10 times their original price are rare breeds -- but they're not impossible to find. Especially when you have Fools for friends.

The market's best stocks include companies that have risen dozens of times in value by taking advantage of the market's weaknesses. These aren't penny stocks; they're viable companies with sound business prospects that are achieving phenomenal returns. Finding just one or two of these monstrously successful firms can help you establish a winning portfolio.

Stalking the monster
To find tomorrow's winners, we've enlisted the help of more than 165,000 monster trackers at Motley Fool CAPS. We've compiled a list of the most successful CAPS members, dubbed All-Stars, whose picks have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled in price. Then we've plucked out some of their recent picks for stocks they find equally promising.

Score is how many percentage points that pick is beating the S&P 500.

Of course, this is not a list of stocks to buy -- or, for those monster stocks that our CAPS All-Stars have already found, sell. Just consider them starting points for your own further research of extreme buying opportunities.

In search of Bigfoot
In his speech Tuesday, President Obama said that a clean energy future was ours to seize. Whether it be wind, solar, or nuclear didn't matter, he stressed, but we need to wean ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels to prevent future Gulf of Mexico-type disasters.

That cache of minerals found in Afghanistan could be one means to the end. Nearly $1 trillion worth of previously undiscovered mineral deposits could be the key. Massive veins of copper, iron, gold, and lithium were found that could transform the country into a mining mecca. Indeed, the Pentagon says Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium." That has to pique the interest of companies like Chemical & Mining Co. of Chile (NYSE: SQM), currently the world's largest lithium carbonate producer. A123 Systems and Ener1 must be excited as well at the possibilities of a plentiful supply for their lithium-based batteries for electric cars.

Of course, somehow resolving the war there will be a necessary precursor to getting the minerals out of the ground. CAPS member negrodamus says the BP oil spill has put alternative energy on the front burner again: "Since oil is denominated in dollars, the impending dollar inflation will cause oil to be a more expensive energy source and in the process force everyone to consider the alternatives (and batteries will be a part of almost every other solution)."

Making the connection
Considering the dangerously high levels of new mortgages the FHA is underwriting, private mortgage insurers like PMI Group are getting squeezed. But its fate seems to be better than either Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) or Freddie Mac, both of which will delist from the New York Stock Exchange and trade on the OTC bulletin boards, home of penny stocks and dubious fly-by-night companies. A pretty fitting place perhaps for the mortgage backers that helped fuel the housing bubble and brought about its collapse.

CAPS member psutton007 thinks PMI is an otherwise solid company, and only needs a real recovery to take hold in housing for it to start climbing once again: "Solid and well organized company. Has been hammered by the housing market bubble bursting. Survived will start to make profits as soon as the housing market and economy improved. I have this at $20 in 5 years."

Good thing it's a long-term pick because the housing starts numbers released yesterday showed a big miss, which indicates that without the government shoveling subsidies at the industry via tax credits, it's going to be awhile before housing gets its sea legs.

A shining example
Just as we were warning that Rambus investors faced heightened risks over its numerous patent lawsuits against, well, just about every major tech company -- particularly after the International Trade Commission postponed a hearing involving NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) -- the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a rehearing of its patent claims against Hynix and Micron (Nasdaq: MU). Predictably, Rambus' shares plummeted.

CAPS member quakeguard thinks the memory-chip maker will ultimately prevail, but IdahoAve says Rambus is little more than a patent machine: "This company just buys patents, waits for somebody else to mfg, market, and sell products they patented, then sues them. Soon the courts will be less sympathetic to this kind of company."

Leave a memorable opinion on the Rambus CAPS page and tell us what you think the ultimate outcome will be.

A chance for scary growth
It takes more than a few All-Star picks and a quick pitch to make buy or sell decisions, so start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS and find other opportunities with monster potential.