Wednesday's 5 Large-Cap Leaders

Each day, The Wall Street Journal publishes a list of large-cap winners. Here are Wednesday's best:

Our top gainer is, once again, copper and gold miner Freeport-McMoRan, and, once again, for reasons not yet reported. So be it. We Fools prefer buy-to-hold stock stories anyway. Are any of our large-cap leaders worth owning over the next three to five years?

We already know Freeport could be. Same with GlobalSantaFe. The professional and amateur investors in our Motley Fool CAPS database who've rated these stocks give both these firms five out of five stars. And yet not all Fools agree. Two wonder if the miner is worth shorting.

Investor billat2000 writes:

Freeport has too many problems trashing the countries it goes into to mine copper, aluminum, etc. The Norwegian Pension Plan system for government employees (a HUGE fund) just decided to dump ALL its FCX holdings for its poor human rights record.

All-Star wcwhiner adds:

I think materials are extended given the slowing-growth environment. Even the phrase "soft landing" still includes the word "landing". Since I've decided to start [favoring] select five-star, large-constituency stocks, that's enough for me.

Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think by signing up for CAPS today. It's 100% free to participate.

See you back here tomorrow for more of the best of the biggest.

Cap off your day with related CAPS Foolishness:

• Check out Tuesday's stock stars.
• These stocks are good for fast cash.
• Sometimes, highly rated stocks go on sale.