The stock market had its best day in four years today as the Dow shot up 284 points to a new high and the S&P 500 also hit a new record. Why? Merger Mania is still going strong and June same-store sales were better than expected.

What if someone told you one year ago today that the Dow was about to soar 25% in the next twelve months? You probably would have thought they were crazy, but that's exactly what's happened. I think the reason is clear. Wall Street is excited about earnings season, and I am too.

But I have to warn you--a rising tide will not lift all boats. Yes, some stocks will rocket higher, but many others will languish. The key to navigating your way through this market is to focus on fundamentally superior stocks, stocks with healthy sales, earnings, and cash flow and the like. That's the only sure strategy during uncertain times like this. Fortunately, these are exactly the kinds of stocks I pinpoint for investors in my Emerging Growth service.

I'm happy to say that Emerging Growth has been one of the most successful investment advisories for the past generation. My team and I have built a great track record by focusing on fundamentally superior stocks trading at good prices. Our results speak for themselves. From 1985 through 2006, our legendary Buy List is up over 4,800%. Those aren't my numbers, by the way, that's according to The Hulbert Financial Digest, an independent tracker of investment newsletters.

At Emerging Growth this year is shaping up to be one of our best years ever. We just had another huge winner thanks to (you guessed it) Merger Mania. This time it's Chaparral Steel (CHAP). The company just accepted an $86 a share takeover offer (or $4.22 billion) from Gerdau Ameristeel of Canada. That's a nice 14% premium over CHAP's previous price.

Merger Mania has been especially rampant in the steel sector, and I knew that sooner or later, some suitor would come for Chaparral. I first recommended CHAP to members of my Emerging Growth service last October. At the time, the stock was going for just $37.21 a share.

The deal still needs to be approved by shareholders, but assuming everything goes smoothly, Emerging Growth subscribers will walk away with a 131% profit.

Not bad for nine months' work!