4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: CSN

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 125,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Brazilian steel giant Companhia Siderurgica Nacional, or CSN (NYSE: SID), has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

CSN facts

Headquarters (founded)	Sao Paulo, Brazil (1941)
Market Cap	$10.6 billion
Industry	Steel
TTM Revenue	$5.72 billion
Management	CEO Benjamin Steinbruch (since 2002) CFO Otavio de Garcia Lazcano (since 2006)
Return on Equity (average, last three years)	26.1%
Trailing Dividend Yield	12.1%
Competitors	ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) Gerdau (NYSE: GGB) Ternium (NYSE: TX)
CAPS members bullish on SID also bullish on	Petrobras (NYSE: PBR)
CAPS members bearish on SID also bearish on	Citigroup (NYSE: C) First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR)

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

Over on CAPS, 795 of the 821 members who have rated CSN -- or 97% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include GunnarVagotis and marc64, both of whom are ranked in the top 20% of our community.

In November, GunnarVagotis tapped CSN as a solid stock:

May be a while before the basic materials pick back up but they are the about the only ones sitting on anything of any real value. Everyone else is sitting on a mountain of paper with nothing behind it. These guys are selling at a deep discount and pay you to wait for the smoke to clear.

In a pitch from this month, marc64 also cites CSN's economic position as an intriguing long-term opportunity:

[CSN] is an extremely cost-competitive producer of steel. They are buying back their own shares through 2/2009 and so far the bump has been pretty consistent. The nice upward draft has given me renewed confidence that [CSN] can stay in the game. ...

CAP's big winners in [CSN] have been in it for a long while; I'm in long term.

What do you think about CSN, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.