4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Valero

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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, oil refining giant Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Valero facts

Headquarters (founded)	San Antonio (1955)
Market Cap	$8.87 billion
Industry	Oil and Gas Refining and Marketing
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$104.17 billion
Management	CEO William Klesse (since 2005) CFO Michael Ciskowski (since 2003)
Return on Capital (average, last three years)	16.2%
Dividend Yield	3.5%
Competitors	ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) BP (NYSE: BP)
CAPS Members Bullish on VLO Also Bullish on	Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
CAPS Members Bearish on VLO Also Bearish on	Citigroup (NYSE: C)

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

Over on CAPS, some 97% of the 1,261 All-Star members who have rated Valero believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include my Foolish colleague Chuck Saletta (TMFBigFrog) and mrindependent, both of whom are ranked in the top 20% of our community.

Just last week, Chuck kindly informed Fools that Valero "is trading below its tangible book value." Our All-Star concludes: "It's a leading, low cost refiner of sour crude, which gives it a great opportunity to succeed, even in a cap & trade limited economy."

In an earlier pitch from last month, mrindependent cracked the bull case even wider:

Selling at 60% of tangible book value. Although this company is currently battling terrible "crack spreads" and industry overcapacity, this situation will not last forever. Either, demand will firm up or the refiners will stop making the capital expenditures that are necessary to maintain capacity. This company has oodles of cash. There is no realistic financial risk. Also, the company is selling for approximately 8X expected earnings.

What do you think about Valero, 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.