Top-Rated Stocks Blowing the Doors Off This Market

No one has perfect foresight, but let's be honest: The market is full of people who, as Oscar Wilde would say, know "the price of everything and the value of nothing." Far too often -- over the past year especially -- investors have been pitched sensational stock recommendations only to be left high and dry as shares crumble.

To hunt down top-recommended stocks that have been rewarding investors accordingly, I summoned our Motley Fool CAPS community to point out a few four- or five-star stocks that have gone gangbusters in recent months.

While they're not formal buy recommendations, these three-month bloomers caught my attention:

Data from Motley Fool CAPS, Capital IQ (a division of Standard and Poor's), and Yahoo! Finance as of April 28.

You can rerun the CAPS screen I used by clicking here.                             

China: Big potential or a bunch of hype?
Many of us Fools are divided on China's stimulus package. Motley Fool Global Gains co-advisor Tim Hanson thinks it's still on track to change the world, while guest contributor Derek Scissors remains skeptical. "I don't believe China's stimulus plan will change the world," Scissors wrote. "Whether it strengthens China depends on whether piling a bit more state spending -- on top of a mountain of state spending -- is a fine idea."

OK, so it might not change the world -- but it will certainly change the fortunes of a few companies. As my Foolish colleague Jennifer Schonberger recently wrote:

Companies that operate in the basic materials sector that serve construction industries and the like stand to benefit -- and so could you. The silver lining is that the [Chinese] government is serious about jump-starting the infrastructure portion of its economy -- both stimulus plans address this -- which means that China will most likely continue to spend money on internal infrastructure until it's thriving fruitfully once again.

One Chinese giant that investors have been piling into lately: Aluminum Corporation of China, also known as Chinalco. Apart from hopes that China's stimulus package will ignite infrastructure projects and spur business, two big forces are fueling this company's rebound:

• A deal, along with Alcoa (NYSE:AA), to purchase big chunks of Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP).
• China's State Reserves Bureau's purchase of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of aluminum from domestic smelters -- particularly those of Chinalco -- in an effort to buoy demand.

To be sure, China is still struggling after its once-scorching growth bellyflopped over the past year. GDP grew at 6.1% in the first quarter -- substantially below the 8% its government says is needed just to employ the exploding ranks of migrant workers.

But as paradoxical as it might sound (and may be), some investors are throwing around a theory that the weaker China becomes, the more government-backed infrastructure projects it'll need just to keep its citizens from revolting. As CAPS member FAOFool wrote last fall on Chinalco:

With China (and other foreign markets) getting hit harder than our own, now is a good time for solid plays. China will continue to invest in its infrastructure...it basically has to keep unemployment under control, as it tries to modernize. The unemployed masses, throughout its history, have toppled governments...and the Communist regime is aware of that. [Aluminum Corporation of China] will benefit from this, as well as from the explosion of growth

More than 96% of CAPS member rating Chinalco tag it as an "outperform." With shares down almost 60% over the past year, and China still one of the world's last realistic global growth stories, it's not hard to see why CAPS members love the company.

Your turn to chime in
Have your own views on this Chinese infrastructure play? More than 130,000 investors use CAPS to share ideas and swap opinions. Click here to check it out and speak your mind. It's 100% free to participate.

For further Foolishness:                                                             

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• 3 Ridiculously Cheap, High-Quality Companies