4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Monsanto

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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, Monsanto (NYSE: MON), the world's biggest seed company, has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Monsanto facts

Headquarters (Founded)	St. Louis, Mo. (2000)
Market Cap	$41.8 billion
Industry	Chemicals
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$11.72 billion
Management	Chairman/CEO Hugh Grant CFO Carl Casale
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)	19.5%
Cash/Debt	$1.96 billion/$1.8 billion
Dividend Yield	1.4%
Competitors	Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) DuPont (NYSE: DD) Syngenta (NYSE: SYT)
CAPS Members Bullish on MON Also Bullish on	PotashCorp (NYSE: POT) Vale (NYSE: VALE)
CAPS Members Bearish on MON Also Bearish on	Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM)

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

On CAPS, 95.9% of the 2,785 members who have rated Monsanto believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include DarthMaul09 and tortillatree.

Late last week, DarthMaul09 sowed a much-needed seed of hope for Monsanto supporters: "Recent short-term bad news has hurt this stock, but long-term this company will be needed to maintain adequate world food production ... the recent stock retreat is a potential buying opportunity."

In a pitch from last month, tortillatree helps fertilize that sentiment:

[T]his is still a strong company, the leader in its class, gobs of cash, and it's the ideal business to be in when the economy really tanks. so all in all, the only thing that scares me from recommending it long-term is the p/e ratio of 20. it's too big and too established of a company to command that kind of a p/e ratio. regardless, it will go up in the next couple months from its current levels for above mentioned reasons.

What do you think about Monsanto, 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!