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There are plenty of strategies for picking stock winners, from finding low P/E stocks to seeking companies selling at a discount to their future cash flows. At the small-cap investment service Motley Fool Hidden Gems, even in this market, the analysts are able to stay ahead of the pack by finding undervalued stocks that Wall Street and investors have ignored.

But what if we could whittle down our list of prospects beforehand, to find those whose engines are just getting warmed up?

Using our investor intelligence database at Motley Fool CAPS, I screened for stocks that were marked up by investors before their share prices rose over the past three months. My screen returned just 49 stocks when I ran it, no doubt reflecting the market's turmoil during that time, and included these recent winners:

Stock

CAPS Rating 11/29/11

CAPS Rating 2/29/12

Trailing-13-Week Performance

Source: Motley Fool CAPS Screener; trailing performance from Feb. 17 to May 17. CAPS rating = out of five stars.

While this screen might tell us which stocks we should have looked at three months ago, we'd rather find the stocks that we ought to be looking at today. I went back to the screener and looked for stocks that were just bumped up to three stars or better, sport valuations lower than the market's average, and haven't appreciated by more than 10% in the past month.

Of the 30 stocks the screen returned, here are three that are still attractively priced, but which investors think are ready to run today:

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3 Stocks Set to Soar

Facebook Inc shares slid below $29 to a new low on Tuesday as nervous investors fled the company's shares, concerned about the social network's long-term business prospects and an initial offering price that proved too rich.

Shares of the No. 1 social network fell 10 percent to an all-time low of $28.65, before recovering slightly to $29.01.

Since its market debut on May 18, the eight-year-old company has shed approximately $25 billion in value -- roughly equivalent to the market capitalization of Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of Facebook's IPO.

Wall Street has harbored concerns that Facebook, while boasting nearly a billion users worldwide and dominating Internet social-networking, would have difficulty translating its growing presence on smartphones and other mobile devices into revenue. Rivals Google Inc and Apple Inc are currently more dominant in the mobile arena.

The increasing urgency of Facebook's quest to monetize mobile is spurring widespread speculation over its next moves. Technology bankers say the company will benefit from tacking on mobile operating software through an acquisition of Norway's Opera, which has been on the auction block for a while.

The New York Times over the weekend also cited sources dredging up a longstanding rumor that Zuckerberg was pondering building a Facebook phone, with the new wrinkle that an easy way to acquire the hardware expertise needed was to buy troubled Research in Motion.

Analysts say apart from the challenge of earning money off smartphone and tablet users, Facebook -- which relies on advertising for the majority of its revenue -- may also find it difficult to lure large advertisers.

Days before Facebook's market debut, General Motors announced it was pulling out of paid advertising on the social network, citing Facebook's unproven track record and echoing potential concerns about the lack of evidence that advertising on Facebook yielded strong returns on investment.

"Facebook is in a transition in their business model," Walter Price, portfolio manager of the Wells Fargo Advantage Specialized Technology Fund, told Reuters Insider. "It was easy to get the first 5 to 10 percent of an advertising budget to try it on Facebook and do some brand advertising, but getting the next 5 to 10 percent, you've got to displace TV and that's a lot more difficult to do.

"Facebook still doesn't have the metrics to prove profitability and prove growth and awareness from their platform," he added.

Originally posted here:
Facebook stocks reach new low, close below $30 a share

The Internet Retailer Online Retail Index gains 1.5%.

Most e-commerce stocks tracked in the Internet Retailer Online Retail Index advanced last week over the prior week.

The Online Retail Index tracks 25 publicly traded e-retailers and e-commerce technology providers. The majority of index stocks14advanced, while 10 lost value and one, Bidz.com Inc., was flat.

Led by online jeweler Blue Nile Inc., the index gained 1.45% last week, outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gained 0.69%. The Standard & Poors 500 had the best performance last week with a 1.74% increase. Blue Niles stock value increased 10.6% last week.

Blue Nile is No. 71 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. The e-retailer reported earlier this month a 3.7% increase in first quarter sales over the year-earlier period.

Following are the best-performing stocks last week in the Online Retail Index and the percentage change in stock price for each:

Blue Nile, 10.6%

Overstock, 7.2%

U.S. Auto Parts Network, 6.6%

LivePerson, 6.2%

Excerpt from:
E-commerce stocks beat the market in an up week on Wall Street

By Brenton Flynn | More Articles May 29, 2012 |

Company

12-Month Performance

Short Interest %

Days to Cover

Source: Capital IQ.

The Foolish bottom lineAs you can see, each of these companies has meaningful work to do in order to win over investor hearts and minds. The shorts aren't always correct, and looking at the stocks they love to hate can be a great starting point for investors to do their own research. After all, there's nothing better than sticking it to the bears with a contrarian pick that works in your favor.

Speaking of bears, the negative sentiment surrounding Facebook is palpable, and at this point I'm not convinced it's overdone. Facebook has a lot to prove as a public company, but if you're looking for an online leader that's already proving itself, this company is a fraction of Facebook's size but boasts some revenue weapons the social-networking juggernaut probably wishes it had. Find out more about this company in our special report: "Forget Facebook -- Here's the Tech IPO You Should Be Buying." Pick up your free copy today by clicking here.

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4 Stocks Shorts Love to Hate

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek stock markets rebounded strongly on Monday from a 22-year low on hopes a pro-bailout party will win crucial national elections next month, which would avoid a catastrophic rift with international creditors and keep the struggling country within the euro currency union.

The main stock index in Athens soared 6.5 percent in mid-afternoon trading, with the battered bank sector chalking up solid gains.

Four polls published Sunday reversed previous trends to indicate that conservative New Democracy could come first in the June 17 vote, slightly ahead of the anti-austerity radical left Syriza party. Although the conservatives would still fall short of a governing majority, the surveys suggested they could form a coalition government with socialist PASOK, which have also pledged to stick to Greece's austerity commitments.

The debt-crippled country is being kept afloat by huge international rescue loans, granted on condition of harsh cutbacks and reforms that slashed living standards. The austerity, however, also caused huge popular resentment toward New Democracy and PASOK, the two parties that accepted the terms. Voters expressed that anger clearly in May 6 elections, giving a boost to anti-bailout parties. But the election proved inconclusive, with none of the parties able to form a coalition government, leaving Greece to hold another ballot next month.

Greece's bailout creditors the other countries in the 17-nation eurozone and the International Monetary Fund insist that if the country reneges on its austerity commitments, the rescue loans will stop.

That would unleash chaos. The government would be unable to pay hospital workers, police and teachers, pensions would dry up and a potential panic run on bank deposits would destroy the tottering financial system. Eventually, the country could be forced to abandon the 17-member eurozone, reverting to a vastly devalued form of its old drachma currency.

Fears of such an outcome have battered Greek financial markets for weeks, pushing the Athens General Index to close at a 22-year low of 485.18 points on Friday. The latest polls, however, helped it claw back some of those losses, rising to 516.61 points.

"This is clearly due to the polls," said Sergios Melahrinos, analyst at Solidus Securities.

He noted that if the two pro-bailout parties manage to win the election and have Greece honor its austerity commitments, banks would gain access to rescue money needed to avoid collapse. Under the country's latest international bailout, domestic banks that took huge losses from a bond swap that more than halved Greece's privately-held debt will receive billions of euros to boost their capitalization. If a new government in Athens unilaterally tears up the bailout deal as Syriza has threatened to do the recapitalization would fall through.

"A potential win by the parties that back their recapitalization would be extremely good for lenders."

See the rest here:
Greek stocks soar on pro-bailout party's poll gain