A 1-in-100 Investor

The first 100 days in office set the tone for any new president. Motley Fool CAPS keeps an eye on how investors do in their first 100 days as well. Some of our best -- we call them All-Stars -- have achieved scores of 100 on stock selections in their first 100 days on CAPS. We're looking at our best players who've made some of their best selections early on and seeing which ones they think will be best next.

One of our highest-rated CAPS members is rzld36, who sports a near-perfect 99.92 member rating. A member since October 2006, rzld36 now has 175 active picks out of more than 2,100 stock picks made on CAPS. With 75% accuracy, rzld36 has also attracted 62 "groupies," CAPS members who've listed this investor as one of their favorites.

Here are a few of rzld36's most recent stock selections and how they were rated.

Source: Motley Fool CAPS. *Price when call was made. Current score is how many points by which a member is beating (lagging) the S&P 500 index from the time of the call.

Let's take a look at what other CAPS members are saying about some of these stocks and whether they agree with this member's assessment.

StemCells
The anticipation is palpable. President Obama may sign an executive order overturning the ban on stem-cell research that has retarded scientific advances in this important arena.

The industry got a bit of a boost at the end of January when the Food and Drug Administration gave Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) approval for the first-ever human trial using embryonic stem cells as a medical treatment. Euphoria may have gotten the better of the market at the moment -- it's only a trial, and no results have been reported -- but after eight years, it's easy to understand the enthusiasm.

StemCells is another player that's bound to get a boost when rumor becomes fact, but some smart Fools think that not every stem-cell research company can be saved by executive order. On the other hand, CAPS member charlitobandito believes there is a lot of money to be made in the industry:

Government funding and subsidizing. The bill will go through anyday now.... lots of money to be made in this industry. This stock had its feet kicked out from under it this morning because of people pocketing profits The sell-off has not real substance. Great time to stock up. The reason these stem cell stocks are so low involves low cash levels, which is a problem but the funding should fix that. All I can say is buy or hold, because the month after Congress passes that bill you will see these [climb].

Simon Property Group
Dividend-paying stocks are the focus of the Motley Fool Income Investor stock service because they're the secret sauce for outperforming the market. But beware the magicians operating at mall real estate investment trusts like Simon Property Group and Vornado Realty: They're paying out their dividends as shares of stock in an effort to conserve cash. According to The Wall Street Journal, the value of such stock dividends is equivalent to what you'd earn in a stock split; that is, absolutely nothing! Yet you'd still have to pay taxes on it, so there will be even less of a benefit to you.

CAPS member OldEnglish correctly identified the scheme as a sign of the apocalypse for Simon Property, and notes that anyone who's buying shares based on its purported book value is taking a risk:

Bombs away. Paying its dividend in stock is a sure way to lower the value. At least their preserving cash to pay their debt 7 to 1 debt to equity. Based on their recent mall sale, the book value of $11 is wishful thinking .

A 1-in-100 opportunity
Some of the best and smartest members in the CAPS investor intelligence community have made their mark, but it pays to start your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS. 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.

As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once noted, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." At Motley Fool CAPS, every investor's opinion counts. It's free to sign up, so why not use this opportunity to take your best shot?