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Thursday, November 05, 2009
Brian D. Pacampara :: Townhall.com Columnist
Wednesday's Biggest Stock Stars
by Brian D. Pacampara
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Was the Copenhagen Global Warming Summit Walk-Out a Win for the U.S.?


Hey there, Fools. I've summoned our Motley Fool CAPScommunity once again to highlight a few of Wednesday's biggest winners among the stocks with top ratingsof four or five stars:

Company

Yesterday's Gain

Shanda Interactive (Nasdaq: SNDA)

8.92%

Allied Irish Banks

7.74%

ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN)

7.19%

Merck (NYSE: MRK)

6.42%

Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX)

6.07%

There's a reason I selected those notable gainers, as opposed to other winners making noise on Wednesday, like one-star stock Ambac Financial : Stocks go up all the time, but unless you were able to predict the pop, what does it matter?  

Our community of more than 140,000 CAPS Fools considers its high-star stocks the most likely to outperform the market.

Written in the (five) stars?
For example, 94.6% of the 262 All-Star members who've rated Motley Fool Rule Breakers selection Shandahave a bullish opinion of the stock. In late September, one of those Fools, Ragingsamosa, helped our community connect with the online gaming company: "Very profitable; decent pipeline of games; lots of cash on hand; has a hand in various industries likely to experience a lot of growth (gaming, online entertainment, literature); based in China and has a business model that may eventually be portable to other foreign countries."

Following yesterday's pop, Ragingsamosa is beating the market nicely since that call.

The bullish lesson?
Know when to break the rules. High-growth stocks in emerging markets are notoriously fraught with risk, but by seeking those with a strong leadership position and solid balance sheet, you can reduce your downside substantially .As Warren Buffettrecommends, "Put together a portfolio of companies whose aggregate earnings march upward over the years, and so also will the portfolio's market value."

And now for the losers ...
Of course, winning isn't everything in the stock market.

Here are five of Wednesday's biggest decliners with one- or two-star ratings:   

Company

Yesterday's Loss

STEC (Nasdaq: STEC)

38.92%

True Religion Apparel

24.44% Continued...

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About The Author

Brian D. Pacampara is an investment expert and analyst for the Motley Fool.

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