The Stocks Wall Street Loves

Despite all of Wall Street's conflict and contention, a fortunate few companies enjoy unanimous support among professional analysts. If the market's movers and shakers all believe these companies will beat the long-term averages, well, surely they will -- right?

Not so fast! With help from the 170,000 members of Motley Fool CAPS, we'll see whether these high-flying favorites deserve analysts' unwavering support.

More than a "Yes" man
If Apple's recent patent win for "multi-touch gestures" for smartphones is any indication, Wall Street's faith in the consumer electronics giant is well grounded. This could give Apple an unassailable lead over every competitor, from HTC to Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI), seeking to steal a slice of the smartphone market.

Yet as the Fool's Tim Beyers asks, was anyone really assailing Apple's lead to begin with? "Since Day One, Apple's iCandy has been gobbling market share like Pac Man gobbles pellets."

This development may just give Apple the cudgel it needs to cow its rivals, or at least make them come crawling to it for relief. Presumably Nokia (NYSE: NOK) would be in the clear, having already settled with Apple outstanding patent infringement claims, but competing suits with HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and others remain.

But even without the patent battles, investors like CAPS member DaveMarcus82 see Apple's history of innovation as keeping consumers chained to it via a short leash:

Wouldn't be surprised if they jump to $400 this year, with the release of so many new products. The iCloud is underrated, and will keep people even more chained to Apple.

Let us know in the comments section below or on the Apple CAPS page whether the patents mean the war is over before the battle even began.

My, how big you've grown
One catalyst for pharmaceutical Apricus Biosciences was its recent inclusion in the Russell Microcap index. The benchmark's annual reconstitution invariably sends stocks of those making the list soaring higher as investors anticipate the huge influx of institutional cash from mutual funds that index the index.

Although Apricus got a small bounce on the day of the announcement, it has the potential to soar even higher if Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) is successful in defending its Viagra patents against intrusions by generics makers Teva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TEVA) and Watson Pharmaceuticals.

That's because Apricus manufactures the erectile dysfunction treatment Vitaros, which received Canadian approval last year, and both it and its partners would likely see higher revenues if Pfizer is successful. Unit prices could rise as much as $2 without the threat of low-cost Viagra generics.

Apricus doesn't seem to get a rise out of CAPS members as only a little more than two-thirds of those rating it think it will outperform the indexes, but more than 60% of the All-Stars rating it see it underperforming. That could be because, as zzlangerhans pointed out, Vitaros is just a low-margin product, and there's not much reason to be excited about the rest of the company's pipeline:

There are many reasons to be dubious about the prospects of PrevOnco, the company's most advanced pipeline compound. PrevOnco is an unspecified derivative of lansoprazole (Prevacid), a commonly prescribed antacid. There is absolutely no evidence of any antineoplastic activity in humans. The company proposes to proceed directly to a phase III trial based on activity on tumors in mice.

If you're interested in learning more about Apricus Biosciences and the prospects for Vitaros, add the stock to your watchlist for complete coverage of its growth.

A glowing opportunity
When the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) requested additional information from Cleveland BioLabs for its radiation drug Protectan, I noted that such delays cost it money because it pushes back funding for the company. That's probably why the company resorted to directly selling almost 6 million shares at $4 a share to institutional investors in an effort to net some $22 million. It'll be able to finance its operations as well as continue its R&D program, though at a cost of diluting current shareholders.

Radiation drugs are proving of some interest to drugmakers. Osiris Therapeutics is working with Genzyme to develop medical countermeasures to nuclear terrorism and other radiological emergencies, while AstraZeneca's Ethyol is the leader in the medical radiation-protection market.

All but one of the CAPS All-Stars who weighed in think it ought to outperform the indexes, and its three-star rating shows the investor community believes it has at least a middling chance of success. Add Cleveland BioLabs to your watchlist for complete coverage of its developments.

Agree to disagree
It pays to start your own research on these stocks on 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.

Sign up today for the completely free service, and tell us whether these stocks deserve to have Wall Street marching lockstep.