Wall Street's Best Hidden Stocks

When asked for the secret of his success, baseball player Wee Willie Keeler replied, "Hit 'em where they ain't." What worked for Willie at the plate applies equally well in investing. 

Seeking stocks that others ignore, shun, or simply forget gives individual investors like you an edge over the professionals. When Wall Street turns a blind eye, you have a chance to get in before these stocks get discovered -- or rediscovered -- and start taking off. 

Below, we'll check out companies with only a handful of analyst coverage, then pair our list with the opinions of the Motley Fool CAPS community. A stock that garners CAPS' top ratings, but hasn't yet caught analysts' attention, could be your next home run investment. 

Sources: Yahoo! Finance; Motley Fool CAPS. NA = not available.

Remember, without much analyst support, you'll have to do your own scouting to see whether these stocks deserve a spot on your portfolio's roster. Don't just buy or sell them based solely on their appearance here. 

Hiding in plain sight
Unlike American Superconductor (Nasdaq: AMSC), which has pursued a business model of selling designs for wind power generation systems and supplying their electrical components, A-Power Energy Generation Systems has preferred to be the manufacturer and that position has worked against it in the current climate.

But management has added to the confusion by first issuing a statement during a conference call last year that it was dissatisfied with General Electric (NYSE: GE) and its provision of gearboxes for wind turbines, only to turn around and say it's really quite happy with them. Now GE is suing A-Power for breach of contract and seeking arbitration.

A-Power's shares have fallen more than 50% over the past year, but despite entering the wind power market at a bad time -- many turbine manufacturers had a really poor 2010 (aside from American Superconductor) -- business prospects remain hopeful. China's going to be a key driver of the industry for years, and A-Power's operations are beyond just wind anyway. It just signed two contracts for biomass power plants, one valued at $30 million, the other at $19 million.

With its depressed stock price, CAPS member HmmIn sees the risk-reward ratio skewed in A-Power's favor, and with 97% of the more than 1,100 CAPS members rating it to outperform the market, it seems there's every confidence it will be able to power up again. Let us know on the A-Power Energy Generation Systems CAPS page whether you think it has the wind at its back again.

All hot and bothered
Funny how National Bank of Greece is looking like a solid choice these days. Considering how the country was viewed as a continental financial basket case just last year, the bank was seen as perhaps the most likely to feel the brunt of whatever collapse was imminent. Greece got bailed out, and now all eyes are on the Iberian peninsula, with Portugal seen as the next domino in line to fall.

Yet while the country is a ruinous mess -- its prime minister couldn't get austerity measures passed and resigned, meaning it will probably be heading to the EU for a handout, too -- at least some of its banks are on firmer financial footing. Moody's didn't downgrade Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) or BBVA (NYSE: BBVA), as it did 30 other banks, and like National Bank of Greece, their share prices have been much stronger this year.

Highly rated CAPS All-Star member kkconway says the Greek bank will continue to improve, as much of its exposure is well away from the mainland's problems.

Per Fool 'par excellance' Tim Hansen, (or was it Nathan P?), NBG makes 40% of it's income from Turkey, and besides, Greeks have far less personal debt than Americans. This is fishin' in a barrel with all the water out. Too easy, but not for the impatient type.

Deposit your views on the National Bank of Greece CAPS page and add it to your watchlist if it's still too risky for your real dollars.

In real estate we trust
Rather than collapse, as many people, including myself, anticipated, the U.S. commercial real estate market turned in its third-strongest annual returns over the last decade, according to the industry watchers at U.K.-based IPD, with investment returns growing 14.2%. While all areas saw double-digit improvements, the industrial market was weakest at 10.4% and the residential apartment segment was strongest with a 19.2% return, showing just how dismal the housing market remains in the country.

That's got to be good news for RAIT Financial Trust, which has 20% of its portfolio in the retail sector (up 14.9%, according to IPD), but more than two-thirds of its investments is in multifamily properties.

CAPS member WiseChoice4u2 finds that REITs like RAIT will improve now that they've been able to hang on through the worst of it:

The longer these REITS survive the greater their possiblity of survival. And the reward could be large. So I dedicate a small percentage of the whole to REITS, trying to pick out the best possiblities going forward.

Add RAIT to the Fool's free portfolio tracker and have all the Foolish news and analysis about it aggregated for you in one place.

Swing for the fences
When seeking investments where no one else is looking, Motley Fool CAPS is the best place to start your own research. 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. 

Sign up today for the completely free service, and tell us whether these hidden stock opportunities will help us go one up on Wall Street.