Stocks Everyone Says to Buy Now

Some stocks simply have such great potential that "everyone" knows they're a good buy today. Yeah, we wish.

If we knew beforehand that Comtech Telecommunications (NASDAQ:CMTL) was going to return more than 4,500% over the past decade, we'd have mortgaged the house to the hilt. If we had the inside scoop that Hansen Natural would be a 29,000% winner in that time period, we'd have mortgaged your house, too!

In fact, if investing were so easy, we'd all be millionaires. It's easy to see after the fact which companies have been the winning investments. What we need is a way to know beforehand which companies will become the next Microsoft or Wal-Mart, growing tens of thousands of percent in value over the years. But there hasn't been a way.

Until now, that is.

More than 60,000 professional and novice investors have rated stocks on Motley Fool CAPS, and we can check in on their opinions about which stocks will beat the market and which will lose to it. While it's often a tug-of-war between the bulls and the bears, we've identified dozens of stocks that members of CAPS have unanimously chosen to outperform the market.

That's no small feat. Thousands upon thousands of companies have been rated, and convincing arguments are made on both sides. For example, Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommendation Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) is a top-rated stock, with more than 3,800 CAPS investors rating the company. Yet while 3,700 of them think the stock will beat the market, that still means there are more than 150 CAPS investors who don't.

So when you come across a stock that everyone thinks is going to outperform, you've got something special, and we as investors ought to take notice.

Here are a handful of those "obvious" investments.

As always, none of the companies on this list should be considered formal recommendations, but rather starting points for further research. What we've done is narrowed your workload by focusing on those companies that CAPS investors are universally expecting to beat the market.

Clicking with ClickSoftware
CAPS players are presumably backing the need for companies to continue to streamline and reduce costs for their businesses and, thus, will need the services of companies like ClickSoftware.

CAPS All-Star jaygatsby49, for example, sees large corporations needing to click with ClickSoftware.

"ClickSoftware makes a great product, but it can be difficult to sell. The thing that brought CKSW to my attention was that the company began getting attention from large systems integrators like Accenture, IBM, CSC, etc. In my experience the key to success for an enterprise software company like CKSW is alliances with system integrators who can effectively act as sales channels for their products.

2006 and early 2007 show steady growth in both sales and income. This was not the case in previous years, where revenue was erratic and income was non-existent. The stock price has risen with the stable profits, but I think if CKSW can show stable growth for a few more quarters and continue to sign major deals (with the help of SI firms) they will make a juicy take over candidate."

Let's hear from you
How about you? We'd love to hear what you think about these companies or any others you think are worthy "obvious" winning investments. If you want to add your two cents, sign up to join the Motley Fool CAPS community, which is 100% free.

Nuance is a recommendation of Motley Fool Hidden Gems. A 30-day free trial subscription gives you the chance to dress up your portfolio with a look at all of the stock selections that are currently beating the market by 38 percentage points. Wal-Mart and Microsoft are recommendations of Motley Fool Inside Value.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey owns shares of Wal-Mart, but does not have a financial position in any of the other stocks mentioned in this article. You can see his holdings here. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.