Dream Stocks for Metals and Mining 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 165,000-member community is full of investors helping each other beat the market.

We'll enlist CAPS to screen for metals and mining 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 $100 million.
• A three-year revenue growth rate of at least 20%.
• A long term debt-to-equity ratio of less than .5.

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 July 23.

General Steel
Some CAPS members like General Steel's aggressive growth strategy of buying stakes in smaller players as China aims to consolidate its steel industry. It reported a 40% jump in first-quarter revenues with shipment volume rising 44%, helped by strong demand that's also motivating peer China Gerui Advanced Materials (Nasdaq: CHOP) to double its capacity by the end of 2011. General Steel is also bullish on average selling prices going forward and expects more growth opportunities to come about. A near unanimous 98% of the 866 CAPS members rating General Steel expect it to outperform the broader market.

Yamana Gold
Yamana Gold saw a greater than 60% jump in first-quarter revenue, similar to Agnico-Eagle Mines' (NYSE: AEM) more than doubling and Newmont Mining's (NYSE: NEM) 46% sales increase in the quarter. But it also missed analyst earnings expectations and shares have yet to gain any traction this year despite solid numbers. A solid majority of CAPS members remain bullish on the low-cost producer and look for improvement as the company sees even lower production costs ahead. With increasing production at several of its mines including El Penon and Gualcamayo and analysts forecasting a 30% growth rate for the next five years, investors like the potential. Nearly 97% of the 3,700 CAPS members rating Yamana Gold still have a bullish call on the company.       

Silvercorp Metals
Similar to peer Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL), Silvercorp Metals enjoys a negative cash cost of silver and reported a big increase in first-quarter earnings. The company also put up another consecutive quarter of production growth, which has many CAPS members bullish on the demand from China. Despite heavy rains flooding several of its mines in China, which will suspend operations there and deal a hit to production in the current quarter, some investors like the long-term prospects of the company. In CAPS, 93% of the 361 members rating Silvercorp Metals believe it is a market-beating investment.

Let 165,000 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.