5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Barrett Business

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, employee management services provider Barrett Business Services (Nasdaq: BBSI) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Barrett's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Barrett facts

Headquarters (founded)	Vancouver, Washington (1965)
Market Cap	$109.55 million
Industry	Staffing and Outsourcing Services
TTM Revenue	$250.4 million
Management	CEO William Sherertz (since 1980) CFO James Miller (since 2008)
Return on Equity (average, last five years)	13.3%
Cash/Debt	$40.25 million/$0
Dividend Yield	3%
Other Highly Rated Staffing & Outsourcing Stocks	Manpower (NYSE: MAN) Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX)
CAPS members bullish on BBSI also bullish on:	General Electric (NYSE: GE) Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
CAPS members bearish on BBSI also bearish on:	D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) NVR (NYSE: NVR)

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's), and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, 839 of the 846 members who have rated Barrett -- some 99% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include jawilde and All-Star Alzo10, who is ranked in the top 20% of our community.

A few months ago, jawilde tapped Barrett as a good bet to bounce back:

Business services are hurting due to poor economy, but requirements for such services are not simply going dry up and go away. When the economy turns around, [Barrett] will also turn around as the demand for its services increases.

In a pitch from last month, Alzo10 focuses on Barrett's fabulous financial position:

1) No debt -- [Barrett] has access to capital, so they could bring in more cash as the downturn continues. More importantly, this company can fund itself through internal cash generation, and did so in 2008, an atrocious year for many companies.

2) Consistent performance since 2005. [Free cash flows] have remained fairly constant since 2005 (albeit in 2008 this was helped by lower than usual capex), but given the fact they didn't fall off of a cliff in this economy, that alone should make it a buy.

3) A decent dividend that can be sustained with internally generated cash flow.

All in all, a strong performing company that is undervalued by the market.

What do you think about Barrett, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 135,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.