4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Itron

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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, energy meter maker Itron (Nasdaq: ITRI) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Itron facts

Headquarters (founded)	Liberty Lake, Wash. (1977)
Market Cap	$1.91 billion
Industry	Electronic Equipment and Instruments
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$1.82 billion
Management	President/CEO Malcolm Unsworth CFO Steven Helmbrecht
Compound Annual Revenue Growth (over last five years)	42.7%
Competitors	Siemens (NYSE: SI) ABB (NYSE: ABB)
CAPS members bullish on ITRI also bullish on	General Electric (NYSE: GE) Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
CAPS members bearish on ITRI also bearish on	NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS.

Over on CAPS, fully 469 of the 489 members who have rated Itron -- some 96% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include All-Stars PeninsulaKid and liftthemup, both of whom are ranked in the top 15% of our community.

Just last month, PeninsulaKid tapped Itron as a particularly smart decision:

Smart grid beneficiary. Has the products to make the electrical grid, as well as gas and water industries much more efficient. Products are open standard and accepted by larger utilities and eligible for new [Department of Energy] grants which should boost sales in the coming quarters. Smart grid, water, energy in an established product -- what's not to like?

In a pitch from late April, liftthemup also helped Fools gauge the opportunity:

With long-term energy demand on the rise, due to emerging economies such as China and India, more efficient use of energy will be necessary. Metering energy usage (electricity and gas) and charging based on the demand at the time of use will encourage users to defer usage at times of peak demand. President Obama has included stimulus money to promote the development of a smart electrical grid.

Demand for Itron's meters has been depressed by the current recession, however I think that the oil price spike to $140 per barrel has made Americans realize that we should reduce consumption … I believe that the Public Utility Commissions will support the efforts of utilities to collect usage data through the installation of "smart" meters and use the data collected to make the generation system more efficient.

What do you think about Itron, 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.