5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Brown & Brown

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 140,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, insurance broker Brown & Brown (NYSE: BRO) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Brown & Brown facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Daytona Beach, Fla. (1956)
Market Cap	$2.74 billion
Industry	Insurance brokers
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$989.6 million
Management	CEO J. Powell Brown (since July 2009) COO Jim Henderson (since December 2002)
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)	16.3%
Dividend Yield	1.5%
Other Highly Rated Insurance Stocks	Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) Chubb (NYSE: CB)
CAPS Members Bullish on BRO Also Bullish on	Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)
CAPS Members Bearish on BRO Also Bearish on	D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) Radian Group (NYSE: RDN)

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

On CAPS, 93% of the 126 members who have rated Brown & Brown believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include TMFmrquakeroats and All-Star Grinnell4Eva, who is ranked in the top 6% of our community.

Just two days ago, TMFmrquakeroats explained how owning the stock would put Fools in fabulous company:

[Sequoia Fund] has owned [Brown & Brown] for several years and it's rated 5 stars. According to Sequoia Fund's managers, [Brown & Brown] did a good job replacing their previous CEO who retired recently. Any company rated 5 stars in CAPS with great long-term prospects that can develop their own managerial talent is worth digging in to.

In a pitch from 2008, Grinnell4Eva expanded on Brown & Brown as a great way to make green:

Brown & Brown is a well-managed company that has weather the soft market better than most. Assuming we're on the tail end of the soft market, I see Brown & Brown gaining organic pricing power in the next year. That said, Brown & Brown has historically grown by acquisition anyway, and smaller agencies and brokerages that are taking a serious hit from soft prices should make for accretive acquisition opportunities in the near term.

What do you think about Brown & Brown, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. The CAPS community is waiting to hear your opinions. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!