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 of 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.

Source: FinViz.com; One-month percentage change from Feb. 24 to March 23.

While you were out, the market plunged below the 12,000 level and soared back up again. Before we get shaken up once more, let's see why the CAPS community thinks some of these companies might continue to outperform the market.

A mighty temblor
After the U.S. Patent Office upheld Star Scientific's patents for reducing carcinogens in tobacco products, the stock soared. Yet CEO Jonnie Williams still dipped into his wallet to buy nearly $1 million worth of shares on the open market. The purchase showed his confidence that the company's "smokeless tobacco" products would earn the FDA's modified risk label -- meaning they wouldn't be subject to the same regulations covering Altria's (NYSE: MO) Marlboro cigarettes or Newports from Lorillard (NYSE: LO).

That came to pass yesterday, when the FDA approved Star's Ariva-BDL and Stonewall-BDL products for marketing. The FDA said, "At this time, only cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco are subject to [the regulations]."

Perhaps because of the hardline stance the FDA has taken in regulating tobacco products (it's considering banning menthol cigarettes, after all), the CAPS community held little hope that Star would win its case. CAPS members were evenly split on whether it would outperform the market, while All-Star members decidedly believed that its prospects would go up in smoke.

Now that the FDA has sided with Star, vindicating its CEO's faith in his company, tell us on the Star Scientific CAPS page where this stock will go from here.

Cool beans
Bringing your biggest rival into your fold is a huge achievement. That explains why the market propelled Green Mountain Coffee Roasters' stock into the stratosphere when it announced it had signed a deal with Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) to market single-serve pods for its Keurig machines. The deal confirmed that Green Mountain was becoming an innovative leader in its industry, moving beyond the coffee wars; Green Mountain generated almost $1.6 billion in sales last year. This wave of industrywide excitement also had investors wondering whether Starbucks should buy Peet's Tea & Coffee (Nasdaq: PEET) to strengthen its hand.

While I've admitted I was wrong about the popularity of the single-serve market -- maybe it's because I drink a pot of coffee each morning, and couldn't understand why someone would settle for a single cup -- the CAPS community has remained intransigent in assigning a one-star rating to the coffeemaker. Even though almost two-thirds of CAPS members rate Green Mountain to outperform the broad indexes, its low rating suggests they think there were better places for your money.

Add Green Mountain to the Fool's free portfolio tracker to keep an eye on what percolates up next in the coffee markets.

Should I stay or go?
Biotech Cell Therapeutics has been bouncing around as the market reacts to three big events. The company issued a big, dilutive share offering following the FDA's refusal to approve its cancer drug Pixuvir. After that, it announced a licensing deal for its cancer therapy Tosedostat. With all these ups and downs, investors have hard a hard time getting a handle on Cell Therapeutics' prospects for growth.

CAPS members are not so sanguine about the future, though; 90% have rated the company to beat the Street going forward. With no Wall Street analysts willing to weigh in on the biotech, it's been flying under many investors' radar. CAPS member plange01 thinks the situation is leveling out for CTI: "ctic stock was just far to cheap and is moving back to more normal levels which should be closer to $2 a share... "

You can make a big impact by sharing your thoughts about the company's prospects on the Cell Therapeutics CAPS page. Then add it to the Fool's free portfolio tracker to see whether the licensing deal was worth the cost of the up-front payments it had to make.

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.