Thursday's 5 Large-Cap Leaders

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

Shares of our top gainer, steelmaker Nucor, surged after reporting better-than-expected earnings. Interesting, but we Fools prefer buy-to-hold stock stories. Are any of our large-cap leaders worth owning over the next three to five years?

We already know that investors believe that Nucor, Freeport-McMoRan, and GlobalSantaFe could be. But so could truck manufacturer Paccar. Out of the more than 70,000 professional and amateur stock pickers in our Motley Fool CAPS database, those who rated Paccar give it four out of five stars. Here's some of the reasoning behind the rating.

Investor seahawkerfan writes:

With the market rebounding in [North America] in 2008 and 2009, and the solid future forecast for Europe, PACCAR is well positioned for future earnings growth. Add to this the overall quality of the company, [its] special dividends combined with regular dividends, and [its] growth in other business segments including truck finance, parts, and leasing and it's a no-brainer.

All-Star tylee100 adds:

Truckers consider them to be the "Cadillacs" of the trucking fleet. Recently one of [its] truck brands, Peterbilt, announced it would be marketing next year the first heavy-duty hybrid truck that will increase mileage substantially. This truck will have applications in the delivery truck area such as garbage trucks, dump trucks, etc. The two major brands, Kenworth and Peterbilt, have been steadily increasing market share for a number of years.

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 Wednesday's stock stars.
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• Some 1-star stocks are surprising.