5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Houston Wire & Cable

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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, specialty wire and cable distributor Houston Wire & Cable Company (Nasdaq: HWCC) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Houston Wire facts

Headquarters (founded)	Houston (1975)
Market Cap	$197.64 million
Industry	Industrial Equipment Wholesale
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$337.3 million
Management	President/CEO Charles Sorrentino (since 1998) CFO Nicol Graham (since 1997)
Return on Capital (average, last three years)	30.9%
Dividend Yield	3.1%
Other Highly Rated Industrial Equipment Stocks	MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE: MSM) Airgas (NYSE: ARG)
CAPS Members Bullish on HWCC Also Bullish on	Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) Vale (NYSE: VALE)
CAPS Members Bearish on HWCC Also Bearish on	Mueller Water (NYSE: MWA) Citigroup (NYSE: C)

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

Over on CAPS, 448 of the 464 members who have rated Houston Wire -- some 96.5% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include MavenPicker and All-Star TSIF, who is ranked in the top 1% of our community.

Three weeks ago, MavenPicker tapped Houston Wire as a stock particularly wired for success: "Great financials, highly efficient, great profitability in an important industry. PE suggests oversold."

In a pitch from one day earlier, TSIF also got in on the high wire act:

In my mind too much of the stimulus was taxpayer and programs and not nearly enough infrastructure, but Houston Wire should benefit. They have a very solid customer connection for specialty wire and cable parts that can't be had easily anywhere else. Their 99% on-time delivery, distribution system, and manufacturing ability … is a huge plus if bids get awarded to companies that have to "hustle". Besides the current demand, they are a big "player" in water infrastructure, which is estimated to need a serious overhaul very quickly or serious leakage will occur.

… With margins sustained and ROE > 25% it appears to me that this is one small cap that you can get charged up about.

What do you think about Houston Wire, 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.