One of the best ways to profit in the stock market is to look for opportunities where others don't. Wall Street's convenient inattention to a whole slew of promising companies -- many of them small caps -- can often mean big winners for small investors.

With that in mind, I used our new CAPS screening tool to find stocks Wall Street may be overlooking. Below are 10 companies with no more than three CAPS-rated analysts calling the stock.

They also have:

  • Market capitalizations between $250 million and $2 billion.
  • At least 300 total calls from our entire CAPS community.
  • Five-star ratings, the highest possible.

Remember, in the first year for which we have data, five-star companies outperformed the S&P 500 with an average gain of nearly 28%.

Company

Share Price

Sector

Market Cap

China Medical Technologies

$38.25

Health Care

$1.0 billion

Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL)

$6.70

Health Care

$704 million

Montpelier Re (NYSE: MRH)

$16.80

Financial

$1.6 billion

North American Palladium (AMEX: PAL)

$5.20

Basic Materials

$427 million

Northgate Minerals (AMEX: NXG)

$3.07

Basic Materials

$783 million

OYO Geospace

$53.03

Technology

$313 million

ShengdaTech

$9.54

Basic Materials

$517 million

Taseko Mines (AMEX: TGB)

$5.34

Basic Materials

$749 million

TBS International (Nasdaq: TBSI)

$52.81

Services

$1.5 billion

VAALCO Energy (NYSE: EGY)

$7.02

Basic Materials

$416 million

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of May 12.

Of course, screens are only a first step in the stock selection process. True Fools use due diligence because they know that not every underfollowed company will necessarily become one of the market's 10 best stocks.

Come and join us on Motley Fool CAPS to let the collective wisdom of our 100,000-person-strong CAPS community help you make your investment decisions.

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Montpelier Re and OYO Geospace are Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommendations. Montpelier Re is also a Stock Advisor selection. Exelixis is a Rule Breakers pick. The Motley Fool owns shares of Exelisis.

Ilan Moscovitz owns shares of ShengdaTech. He thinks the CAPS screen is the new four square. The Fool's disclosure policy calls spikes.