5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Freeport-McMoRan

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 110,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, global mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) has earned a coveted five-star ranking. Our data has shown that five-star stocks outperform the market by a significant margin; conversely, one-star stocks have woefully lagged the market average.

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

Freeport-McMoRan facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Phoenix, Arizona (1987)
Market Cap	$38.53 billion
Industry	Diversified Metals & Mining
TTM Revenue	$20.36 billion
Management	CEO Richard Adkerson (since 2003) CFO Kathryn Quirk (since 2003)
Return on Equity (avg. last two years)	19.5%
CAPS members bullish on FCX also bullish on	Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Transocean (NYSE: RIG) Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK)
CAPS members bearish on FCX also bearish on	Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) Vale (NYSE: RIO)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, fully 1,360 of 1,381 of the All-Star members who have rated Freeport-McMoRan -- some 98% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These All-Star bulls include eslough and JDSancho, both of whom are ranked in the top 10% of our community.

In September 2007, eslough informed our community that "with the take-over of Phelps Dodge earlier in 2007, [Freeport-McMoRan] is now the world's largest copper producer. The global infrastructure boom will continue to propel the shares of this firm higher."

A more recent pitch from JDSancho just last month follows that bullish line of logic, noting the stock's attractive valuation, as well:

Consolidation in this space could raise [Freeport-McMoran's] share price.

Fundamentally, [Freeport] is not that expensive, trading around 9x forward earnings, which have been growing around 25% yearly. [Freeport] is well capitalized and has a sustainable, healthy 1.4% dividend yield (unlike my basket of regional bank stock underperform picks). The 50% move over the past year has kept me from opening a position with real money, but I still think [Freeport] has room to run. Especially if you believe demand globally (i.e. China/India) is sustainable for the long haul.

What do you think about Freeport-McMoRan, or any other stock, for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 110,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.