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 been shootin' for the moon in recent months.

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

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of July 21.

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

A closer look at Disney
Disney? Isn't it reliant on discretionary income? Aren't people slashing that kind of stuff out of their budget? Isn't entertainment the first thing to be cut in a recession?

Well, yes. But more than a few things set Disney apart from the norm. Before casting this company off as an unsalvageable casualty of the recession, keep these points in mind:

1. It's more diverse than you might think. This isn't just mouse ears. Or roller coasters. And, thank your lucky stars, it isn't just the Jonas Brothers. As CAPS member dmesg writes:

Solid performer for years, theme parks may lose over the next few years, but movies and dvd sales will continue to hold the company up, and it has a huge market in Disney everything that we all remember from childhood and share with our children.

True, all those elements are linked back to entertainment in one way or another. But there's diversity within the entertainment industry -- everything from hotels to ESPN. Here's how revenue per segment broke down in 2008:

2. Disney's right up there as one of the world's most identifiable brands. For theme parks in particular, that brand keeps guests flowing through the gates year after year after year. People are just as enthralled with "going to Disneyland" as they are with what Disneyland has to offer. As Warren Buffett often says about Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), there's a "share of mind" aspect that draws people in. That's a rarity, and it makes the value of the brand name itself a substantial part of Disney's valuation.

3. The company really isn't that expensive. Shares currently trade for about 13 times forward earnings. That won't win any awards as the market's cheapest stock, but it doesn't look bad when you consider that shares have traded, on average, at far more than 25 times earnings over the past 17 years. Investors with a long-term time frame should ask what a world-class company like Disney would be worth in the more distant future, as the economy rebounds and the company maintains its global entertainment dominance.  

Your turn to chime in
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