3 Stocks Breaking Out

Volatile markets seem to be the norm these days, as stocks gyrate through ups and downs on a daily basis. But sometimes, buyout news and other short-term forces can send individual stocks soaring by 10%, 25%, or 50% -- even on the market's worst days.        

For example, shares of ADC Telecommunications rose 41%, after once-maligned electronic connectors maker and Tyco International spinoff Tyco Electronics agreed to buy the company for $12.75 a share.                            

But beyond less predictable events like that one lie stocks with fundamentally compelling reasons behind a big move. How can you find those stocks? That's where Motley Fool CAPS comes in.

The story behind the story
CAPS is no crowd of lemmings. Its best-performing members' opinions do more to shape each company's rating than the picks of their poorer-performing peers. Here's an example of how we can use the collective wisdom of more than 165,000 CAPS members to filter out the noise and find companies with strong potential.

We'll use CAPS' handy stock screening tool to quickly zero in on companies with a stock price increase of at least 15% in the past four weeks, a market cap of greater than $100 million, and a beta of less than 3. Then we can use the insight of the CAPS investment community to add some context to these market movers.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS. Price return from June 25 through July 23.

National Bank of Greece
Despite the debt troubles facing Greece and Europe, many CAPS members are banking on a turnaround in shares of National Bank of Greece. Much attention has been focused lately on the stress tests of European banks, which NBG, Allied Irish Banks (NYSE: AIB), and all but seven of the 91 banks tested passed. The vote of confidence suggests to many investors that the banks will at least survive, even if NBG faces more losses in many of its markets and potentially more economic headwinds ahead. Although the company's board chairman, Vasilis Rapanos, still sees big challenges in 2010, many CAPS members weighing in on the stock today are bullish. They see the bank pulling through the crisis, with nearly 96% of the 1,249 members who've rated National Bank of Greece expecting it to outperform the broader market.

priceline.com
Shares of priceline.com have been attempting to recover from the fall spurred from a weak second-quarter forecast. Turbulence in Europe played a big role in the dim outlook, including disruptions in flights from the volcano in Iceland, and general economic woes. While Chinese counterpart Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) has recently received some bullish analyst coverage, priceline.com itself received a couple of analyst upgrades, with Goldman Sachs citing an overreaction to a falling euro, and Caris & Co. seeing improving travel trends in Europe. CAPS members also recently pushed the company's CAPS rating up a notch, but it still sits at a below-average two stars. Roughly 75% of the 1,054 CAPS members who've rated priceline.com believe it still has some growth legs under it.                          

MBIA
Bond insurers MBIA and peer Ambac Financial (NYSE: ABK) are still struggling amid a shaky global economy. MBIA swung to a first-quarter loss, and Ambac has been working on ways to stay out of bankruptcy. But news that Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme Capital Management took a sizeable stake in MBIA, and upped his ownership in insurer AIG (NYSE: AIG), sent shares of each company soaring. With a significant amount of capital on the line in each firm, Berkowitz obviously sees upside potential for both companies to survive and thrive, after being beaten down severely in the fallout of the financial crisis. With just a one-star rating in CAPS, though, few members are following Berkowitz's lead. Approximately 46% of the 981 CAPS members who've rated MBIA still think it will lag the return of the broader market going forward.

And you?
What's your story? Whether you buy the tale of a stock that's soaring or souring, your own research is more important than collective opinions. But these collective opinions can make your due diligence a whole lot easier.

Add your take on these or any of the 5,400 stocks that our 165,000-plus members have covered in Motley Fool CAPS. It's totally free to be a part of the community, and the payback is more than worth it.