3 Stocks Shaking the Market

Some stocks are one-hit wonders, making a big splash when they first appear, then quickly fizzling into obscurity or oblivion. But for other stocks, that initial big move is only a preview for even bigger and better gains to come.

Today, we've listed three stocks that made some of the biggest upward moves over the past month, which we'll pair with the ratings issued by our Motley Fool CAPS community. The higher each stock's rating, the greater CAPS members' faith in that company's ability to keep on beating the market.

1 Month % change from Oct. 7 to Nov. 5.

As the markets whipsaw to changes in changes to second half economic performance, the S&P 500 has been volatile. So before we get shaken out again, let's see why the CAPS community thinks some of these companies might continue to outperform the market.

A mighty temblor
There's got to be more than Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's stated desire to debase our currency and inflate prices to account for the tear Chinese advertising specialist China MediaExpress has been on. After all, similarly situated VisionMedia (Nasdaq: VISN) has fallen by nearly 8% over the past month and Focus Media (Nasdaq: FMCN) is up by that same percentage.

CAPS member throwerw postulated that if the market values it similarly to Focus Media based on next year's earnings, China MediaExpress would have to triple in value. In short, the squeeze is not over.

Every kind of investor is jumping in now, even value investors who might have been late to the game. The stock looks perfect in all technical aspects, and the fundamentals are very solid. The stock would have to almost triple to trade at a similar multiple to its peer, [Focus Media].

Let us know on the China MediaExpress CAPS page whether this is an express train to high values, or the sudden surge will collapse from its own weight.

A sunny disposition
It looks like a short squeeze is under way at iStar Financial as well, driven, though, by surprisingly good results that allowed it to bring in more than $1 billion from principal repayments and sales of loans, other real estate owned, and corporate tenant leases. In turn, iStar will repay $1 billion in debt earlier than scheduled. When you have good news coupled with negative sentiment, the results can be phenomenal.

CAPS member SqueezePort noted the opportunity for short sellers to get their comeuppance at the hands of the commercial lender, but the industry is still in a state of flux where even industry executives are cautious about any turnaround taking hold anytime soon. With the default rate for commercial mortgage-backed securities rising to 10.6% in the third quarter, there's plenty of reason iStar, CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE), and other specialty finance companies are leery of predicting a quick recovery.

CAPS members remain generally bullish about iStar's potential, but you can follow along by adding the stock to your My Watchlist page and have all the Foolish news and analysis gathered together for you in one place.

A speedy opportunity
There's been no specific new to drive up the stock of Orient Paper, a small cap Chinese paper products company that, like China Sky One Medical, Fuqi International, and a growing list of similarly situated companies, was rocked by charges of financial impropriety. A lot of the charges seem based on insinuation, and no smoking gun has yet been and investors seem to be mindful the original research was done by a short seller.

Having hired a new accounting firm and launched an independent investigation of the allegations, Orient Paper has responded forcefully to the charges. Fuqi tried that too, but the impact was only temporary and the stock still trades at depressed levels.

The CAPS community remains hopeful about the outcome, however, with 94% of those rating Orient expecting it to go on and outperform the market. It has third quarter earnings due out next week and if they show business still growing, coupled with a favorable independent analysis, we might just see its shares soar even higher.

With uncertainty still surrounding the process though, it's up to you to determine whether Orient Paper belongs in your own portfolio. Be sure to add it into the Fool's free portfolio tracker, My Watchlist.

Shake, rattle, and roll
With these stocks shaking the market this past month it pays to start your own research on them at 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.