Tomorrow's Monster Stocks

Stocks that climb to 10 times their original price are a rare breed -- but they're not impossible to find. Especially when you have Fools for friends.

The market's best stocks include companies that have risen dozens of times in value over the past decade. These aren't penny stocks; they're viable companies that have sound business prospects and achieve phenomenal returns every year. Finding just one or two of these monstrously successful companies can help you establish a winning portfolio.

Stalking the monster
To find tomorrow's monster stocks, we'll enlist the 110,000-plus members at Motley Fool CAPS. We've compiled a list of the most successful CAPS players, dubbed All-Stars, whose picks have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled in price. Then we've plucked out some of their recent picks for stocks they find equally promising.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS. Score is by how many points a pick is beating (lagging) the S&P 500 index since the time it was chosen.

Of course, this is not a list of stocks to buy -- or, for those monster stocks that our CAPS All-Stars have already found, to sell. Just consider them starting points for further research.

Covered in soot
Coal stocks had been one of the biggest performers this year -- the Dow Jones US Coal Index rose about 75% through the first half of the year. A different story has unfolded, however, in July, during which the index has given up more than 20%. James River Coal has mirrored that performance, though on a grander scale: Shares have quintupled in price since the start of the year, only to have given back 35% this month. Yet there is still a lot of demand for coal, even with prices at record levels. The selloff in James River shares and other coal stocks, particularly those like Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE) in the metallurgical coal segment, could make the shares attractive at these levels.

CAPS member wildeagain agrees that there seems to be little let-up in demand from expanding economies, such as those in China and India, and, thus, little chance of a long-term negative impact.

Chinese and Indian build out of infrastructure leading to energy shortages and demand that can't keep up with supply. Coal is another player in the theory. This co. moves like crazy when it's hot. 10 percent days are not uncommon.

Banking on it
Investing in financial stocks these days has to be a scary prospect. The writedowns on underperforming assets and exposure to risky liabilities keep mounting, and if you add in a dollop of a smaller deposit base and more geographically concentrated customers, as the regional banks do, then you have the makings of a potential meltdown on your hands. Unless, that is, you're Motley Fool Income Investor recommendation BB&T, which decided to take an "in your face" strategy of raising its dividend at a time when other banks are slashing theirs. 

CAPS member bluejonnyd sees the potential for short-term stumbles at BB&T, but the longer-term picture has it sitting in the forefront of the financial sector's resurrection, this player believes.

BB&T, while caught inevitably in the current disastrous credit situation, shows signs of being able to survive it and thrive afterwards. For one, the bank has been around in some form or another since Reconstruction, and the institution appears financially sound. Though growth has mostly been stymied, earnings and assets have not taken a particularly hard hit -- most certainly not a hit hard enough to warrant the 42% price decrease in the past year. ... The knife on this stock may still be falling, at least until the loan markets unscramble themselves, but when they do it's my bet that BB&T will still be around, paying a good dividend, and being a big part of the correction back upwards.

A chance for scary growth
Now you can dial up the stocks that these All-Stars see as achieving monster growth and tell us on CAPS whether you agree with their opinion. This is the place where your voice counts just as much as everyone else's. Let's hear whether you think these are tomorrow's monster stocks that have been uncovered today.