Every day, the sun rises on Wall Street, and a plethora of professional analysts wake to issue new opinions on stocks. Here at the Fool, we use our "This Just In" column to examine some of these picks -- and the track records of the firm behind them -- so individuals can make better investing decisions.
In addition to following professional banks, anyone can use Motley Fool CAPS to monitor the collective opinions of more than 135,000 members, many of whom demonstrate better investing insight than published analysts do.
More top-performing CAPS members are feeling bullish about General Steel Holdings (NYSE: GSI ) these days, enough to upgrade it from the four-star rating it has held for much of the past year to five stars. A total of 502 members have given their opinion on General Steel, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.
The Chinese company reported record production for its first quarter, as shipping volume at its Longmen Joint Venture grew 39%, to more than 650,000 metric tons. Total revenue increased 10.7%, to $322.8 million, and earnings grew to $7.3 million from $2.2 million from last year. The surge in net income was enough to get investors worked up, even though a good chunk of the profit came from non-cash derivative gains. The company increased its cash and restricted cash to $213.4 million, compared with $145.6 million at the end of the previous quarter. General Steel also brought its gross margin back out of the red, to 4%, from negative 8.3% in the previous quarter.
While U.S. producers such as Steel Dynamics (Nasdaq: STLD ) and Nucor (NYSE: NUE ) are poised to benefit from federal stimulus spending, General Steel is benefiting from China's stimulus spending and increased demand from rebuilding after an earthquake, both of which it expects to continue. Increased government spending aimed at boosting domestic activity in China and improving the world economy could also benefit companies such as CNOOC (NYSE: CEO ) , BP (NYSE: BP ) , Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP ) , and Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU ) , which sell raw materials and energy to China.
To see what the very best CAPS members are saying now about General Steel -- as well as other winning stocks they are picking -- head on over to CAPS and have a look. The community research and resources in CAPS are totally free, unlike analyst opinions reserved for paying clients.
More Foolishness:
RSS Headlines
Fool UK