Bill Gates is the type of innovator who only comes along once every century or so. Sure, there are many able-bodied CEOs out there, and every now and again a company can leave it's mark on the way the world does business. But not like Gates and Microsoft (MSFT) have. Whether you're an investor playing the stock market, a computer geek who was awed by Windows or just a worker who has seen virtually every task migrate to computers, you have to admit Gates is at the top of the business world.

Well, at least he was.

Effective July 1, Bill Gates will at last be completely "retired" from the PC powerhouse he created 30 years ago. It's been a slow transition that has taken about a decade, but this leader of the digital age will soon focus entirely on philanthropy. He will be out of Microsoft's day-to-day operations.

There's a lot of news stories right now about what's next for Bill Gates and Microsoft. But the reality is that this transition has been coming for a while. Gates' formal departure will have far less impact on the price of Microsoft than technology sector news, earnings reports and rock-solid financial facts.

But the media likes a good story. Heck, investors like a good story, too. There's something romantic about a Bill Gates dropping out of Harvard to become a billionaire, or the humble beginnings of Apple (AAPL) in a garage as the brainchild of Gates' fellow innovator Steve Jobs. These companies are the stuff of legends, and we want to know how we can buy stocks like these before they break out. Every investor dreams of getting in on the ground floor of the next big thing.

Companies that change the game like Microsoft don't come around every day. But stocks that experience an exponential rise in value aren't as uncommon on Wall Street as you may think! Take America Movil (AMX), which I identified to my Emerging Growth subscribers as a Buy in March of 2004. Since then, this stock is up 350%! No, that is not a typo! That means a mere $20,000 investment would now be worth $70,000! This is the type of growth people dream about when they hear the story of Microsoft.

So how did I pick this stock for my Emerging Growth subscribers? Simple: I pay attention to the facts. Stories are nice, but they'll never determine the next market leader. My strategy is to watch eight fundamental variables across the stock market and decide which stocks on Wall Street made the grade. Using my exclusive PortfolioGrader Pro tool, I can calculate which stocks get A's in what categories. Then, I pick only the very best performers for my Buy List. The Emerging Growth buys I recommend each month are the valedictorians of the stock market, and they perform like it!

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