Most of us would be thrilled to invest in a stock that doubles our money, but it certainly isn't easy to find these stocks. According to data provider Capital IQ, in the last year only 1.4% of 6,700 stocks trading on the U.S. exchanges were able to double their price.

BusinessWeek started hunting some of these potentially great stocks by asking fund managers to choose those firms expected to provide 100% returns in the next few years. Of course, the resulting list is by no means a sure thing, since major factors such as the ongoing credit crisis and challenging market conditions could affect results in unpredictable ways.

But let's look at some of the strategies used when picking high-potential stocks.

Mary Lisanti, portfolio manager at the Adams Harkness Small Cap Growth Fund, focuses on young companies in the small-cap segment. She points to stocks like Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN) and Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN), saying that investors can have a big advantage when they recognize potential before the market does.

Following the same logic, Robert Auer is looking for companies with strong revenue and earnings growth, paired with a low price-earnings ratio. He points out stocks such as chemical firm OM Group Inc. (NYSE: OMG), citing its faster growth compared with tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

While some investors are searching for high prices, William Van Keulen from financial adviser Carnick & Co. prefers to avoid a strategy based exclusively on value. From this point of view, he picks software companies Ansys Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) and IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS).

On the other hand, Richard Sparks, of Schaeffer's Investment Research seeks out companies facing a lot of market pessimism. He believes that traders' lack of interest in some stocks like Apogee Enterprises (NASDAQ: APOG) and Volterra Semiconductor (NASDAQ: VLTR) could offer an unexpected boost. Some other managers prefer stocks showing "short-term trouble" such as Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) and Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL).

No matter what strategy we pick, analysts believe that now it is a good time to make our choices. There is a lot of risk around, but amid all these market concerns there are always some large upside potential stocks.

Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.