5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Darling International

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 120,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, food industry waste recycler Darling International (NYSE: DAR) 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 Darling's business, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Darling facts

Headquarters (founded)	Irving, Texas (1882)
Market Cap	$340.53 million
Industry	Cleaning Products
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$834.5 million
Management	CEO Randall Stuewe CFO John Muse
Return on Equity (average last three years)	20%
Competitors	Baker Commodities, Griffin Industries
CAPS members bullish on DAR also bullish on:	PotashCorp (NYSE: POT), Freeport-McMoRan, General Electric (NYSE: GE)
CAPS members bearish on DAR also bearish on:	Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD), Sulphco (AMEX: SUF), UAL (NYSE: UAUA)

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

Over on CAPS, 98% of the 767 members who have rated Darling believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include elytikai and CAPS All-Star greenwave3.

Two days ago, elytikai noted that Darling has "very little long-term debt and will therefore weather any downturn. They are well-positioned to benefit directly and/or indirectly from increased biodiesel production into 2009, with a Renewable Fuel Standard being adopted."

In a pitch from just yesterday, greenwave3 agrees, tapping Darling as a budding darling stock:

Growth and value at these levels. This is an excellent company that offers tremendous upside from their core business (cleaning grease traps) and secondary business (rendering/recycling used cooking oil). They have big contracts with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and other big chains. Darling's services will still be needed through a recession. Though their growth may slow in 2009 as the economy shrinks, [Darling] is a long-term winner that is managed very well.

What do you think about Darling, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 120,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.