An Outstanding Call on Apple

It's been a hard fall for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) stock since the beginning of 2008, but then again, what hasn't gotten whacked? On the Fool's CAPS service, Apple's stock is rated three stars out of a possible five, and there is a whopping total of 11,486 players bullish on it.

The player leading the pack is FieryGuy7, who rode an outperform call on Apple for an amazing 197% in just 16 months. FieryGuy's secret, though, was knowing exactly when to take his gains and run -- he ended his outperform pick on Apple on Dec. 26, amid all the Christmas hype and right before the big fall at the beginning of the year.

FieryGuy is one of CAPS' All-Stars -- players with a rating of 80 or greater -- and though his accuracy has been below 50%, he's racked up almost 350 points. Apple hasn't been his only great call. Here's a look at a few of his other prescient picks:

So what is this investor looking at these days? Here are a few of his most recent calls on CAPS:

While not all of these picks may pan out, they could be a good place to start some further research. I decided to take a closer look at crowd favorite and Rule Breakers recommendation Intuitive Surgical.

The cutting edge
The Terminator movies aside, I remain pretty convinced that the expanded use of robotics in the coming years will be great for us humans. I mean, who's really going to complain about one of iRobot's (Nasdaq: IRBT) Roombas zipping around the house vacuuming up cookie crumbs?

In the realm of more complex robotics, Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci Surgical System aids surgeons in making precise movements through small incisions during minimally invasive surgeries. Minimally invasive surgery is a great option for patients, since it typically causes less trauma, has shorter recovery times, and can often mean that procedures can be done on an outpatient basis.

As an innovator in the industry, the company has a near monopoly presence in this young and growing area. As with any high-growth fare, there are drawbacks, such as a high valuation and no dividend, but the positives of the company led fellow Fool Selena Maranjian to call Intuitive Surgical the best stock for 2008.

On CAPS, another Fool (and Rule Breakers contributor), and one of CAPS' top players, TMFBreakerJava, has been bullish on Intuitive Surgical since way back at $120. He wrote:

The da Vinci Surgical System is making traditional surgery obsolete. In 20 years it may well be grounds for a malpractice suit to pick up a knife and cut into another human being free handed. Soon, most surgery will be performed with devices like this one. And Intuitive Surgical will get revenue from each procedure that is performed.

Of course, the stock is no longer at $120, but over 2,100 players on CAPS currently think it will continue to outperform the market.

You can see more of what CAPS players have to say about Intuitive Surgical by clicking over to CAPS. It's absolutely free and already has over 82,000 stock pickers chipping in to find the best stocks out there. Why not join them?

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