Tomorrow's Monster Stock?

Stocks climbing to 10 times their original price are rare breeds -- 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 by taking advantage of the market's weaknesses. These aren't penny stocks; they're viable companies with sound business prospects that are achieving phenomenal returns. Finding just one or two of these monstrously successful firms can help you establish a winning portfolio.

Stalking the monster
To find tomorrow's winners, we've enlisted the help of more than 140,000 monster trackers at Motley Fool CAPS. We've compiled a list of the most successful CAPS members, 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.

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

In search of Bigfoot
Sequenom is not likely to be the kind of stock that Warren Buffett would invest in, so you can't blame some investors for wanting to sit this one out. The Oracle likes to stay within his circle of competence and find stocks that can offer steady streams of revenue and profit, not exactly what you'd associate with this biotech -- or many biotechs for that matter, particularly those trying to break into the big leagues.

So while biotech investing may not be for everyone, there's still potential for profit in Sequenom for those willing to shoulder the risk. We know that some employees played fast and loose with R&D test data and results for its Down syndrome test, and in a Monday night massacre last week, the board of directors fired the president and CEO, and the head of R&D. The CFO was allowed to resign. We have a clean slate here to move forward, but equally important is that Sequenom, despite all of the attention focused on its failure, is not a one-trick pony.

CAPS member MATTALANKANE may be right that Sequenom is damaged beyond repair as the market takes a dim view of the latest episode. Yet I think there is still a chance that Sequenom rises like Lazarus from the dead.

Overall, the molecular diagnostics testing market has been growing at 19% annually. This market includes testing for prenatal diagnostics, oncology, infectious diseases, and other disorders. Using its proprietary MassARRAY platform, Sequenom still has a good chance to capture a portion of the market. Even though it's just a small win, the company recently announced it would be launching a test for cystic fibrosis. There's no arguing that the company fumbled badly the Down syndrome test, but that doesn't mean the company is necessarily on the verge of bankruptcy, which its stock price seems to suggest.

Should it come about that Sequenom's methods for Down syndrome are validated (however unlikely some may view that possibility now), that would be simply icing on the cake. drmanand is a believer, though, and notes that there are plenty of opportunities:

Trisomy 21, [Down] is one among several tests feasible with their platform. They are planing several tests like fetal Rh tests. The science is true. This is going to be a multi-bagger.

A chance for scary growth
It takes more than a few All-Star picks and a quick paragraph to make buy or sell decisions so start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS. You can read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made all from a stock's CAPS page. And while you're there, weigh in with your own thoughts on whether you think these are tomorrow's monster stocks.