Every day, the sun rises on Wall Street, and a plethora of professional analysts wake to issue new opinions on stocks. Here at the Fool, we use our "This Just In" column to examine some of these picks-- and the track records of the firm behind them -- so individuals can make better investing decisions.
In addition to following professional banks, anyone can use Motley Fool CAPS to monitor the collective opinions of more than 130,000 members, many of whom demonstrate better investing insight than published analysts do.
More top-performing CAPS members are feeling bullish on Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM ) these days, enough to upgrade it from the four-star rank it has held for months to a more formidable five-stars. A total of 1,252 members have given their opinion on Brookfield Asset Management, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.
Brookfield's diversified assets have some of its businesses facing pressure, but a core part of its holdings, in renewable power and office property, have been resilient. The bleak housing market has been putting significant pressure on revenue in its homebuilding business, as it has for others such as Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM ) , Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL ) , and Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV ) . Still, Brookfield's office property portfolio is 96% occupied, which is helping to provide a stable base of income and cash flow.
Brookfield Asset's 40% stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners gives it exposure to the timberland and electric transmission businesses, businesses which commodities guru Christopher Barker believes Foolish investors shouldn't ignore. Timber operations at Brookfield Infrastructure and others such as Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY ) are feeling the effects of a poor housing market. But Brookfield Infrastructure is offsetting lackluster timber operations by stability in electricity, having contracted more than 75% of its expected renewable power generation for 2009 and 2010. An electric transmission development project in Texas is also in the works, giving it a growth opportunity in a state that is currently the focus of a major energy tussle between Exelon (NYSE: EXC ) and target NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG ) .
Many CAPS members now see plenty of upside to come after shares of Brookfield Asset have dropped over the past year. To see what the very best CAPS analysts are saying now about the company -- as well as other winning stocks they are picking -- head on over to CAPS and have a look.
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