3 Hot Stocks Poised to Double, Even Triple

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- While "growth stocks" are more commonly equated to "small-cap stocks" in many investors' minds, there are large-cap stocks that are poised to pop. Here we present stock picks -- both small and large -- of top portfolio managers, all primed to double or even triple... PCMall MALL Number of Analysts: 2 Average Recommendation: Buy Stock Price/Earnings Ratio vs. Industry's: 43.63% Market Cap: $57.56 million Trailing Twelve-Month Operating Margin: 0.6% Trailing Twelve-Month Revenue: $1.22 billion What's to Like About PC Mall Stock: Bob Auer of the Auer Growth Fund recently bought shares of PC Mall after the company reported one of its best quarters ever. "We don't buy anything that doesn't have an up 25% or more profit," Auer said. During the second quarter, the company reported earnings growth of 67% from the previous year and sales growth of roughly 21% compared to last year; the stock made the cut to Auer's fund. With about 2,400 employees, PC Mall, which has been around for 20 years and sells computers on line, is described by Auer as a "nice-sized" and "neat" company that provides "a pretty risk-free shopping experience. Auer noted that PC Mall stock was trading at about 57% of book value and $4.58 when he spoke to TheStreet on Sept. 17. "It's year high was over $8 ... last year. They just had their best quarter and the stock's only $4.58. So for it to double, it would only have to go back to where it was -- even when they weren't doing as well," he pointed out. "If it just got back to book value, it would almost double." In his second-quarter earnings statement, PC Mall's CEO Frank Khulusi said he believes the company's growth was driven by both "an improving demand environment and by the investments that we have been making in our businesses, which are beginning to pay off." The stock in the last 52 weeks was down 35%. Auer said that the stock is currently one out his fund's hundred's of stocks and one of his smallest positions. "It's new to us and we kind of nibbled on it, but we might add more to it later." Currently, the low-end of the earnings analyst consensus estimate for PC Mall has been 60 cents for 2010 and 85 cents for 2011. "If they make 85 cents next year and it only trades at a 10 P/E (10x P/E ratio), it'd be an $8.50 stock. And if people get excited about their growth because it's going to go from 35 cents last year to 60 cents estimated this year and 85 cents estimated next year ... when you ... have growth like that ... maybe it would trade at 15 times multiple (15x P/E ratio) -- and then all of a sudden it might be a $12 stock," Auer said.. "Then you almost have your triple." Auer said that this year PC Mall's sales will likely be well over $1 billion. Baidu BIDU Number of Analysts: 25 Average Recommendation: Outperform Stock Price/Earnings Ratio vs. Industry's: 451.59% Market Cap: $29.835 billion Trailing Twelve-Month Operating Margin: 43.3% Trailing Twelve-Month Revenue: $851.67 million What's to Like About Baidu Stock: As a large-cap growth manager, Michael Sansoterra of Ridgeworth Large Cap Growth Fund doesn't have a whole lot of stocks that can double in a short-term time horizon. But one of more aggressive names he carries and that he thinks could roughly double in about a two-year time period -- even from its current lofty levels -- is Chinese Internet engine giant Baidu. "We've already owned the stock for some time and we've already watched it double, but we think it can continue to do well." To read the rest, head over to TheStreet.com