5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: ION Geophysical

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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, seismic data provider ION Geophysical (NYSE: IO) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

ION facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Houston (1968)
Market Cap	$435.5 million
Industry	Oil and gas equipment and services
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$566.1 million
Management	CEO Robert Peebler (since 2003) COO James Hollis (since 2008)
Compound Annual Revenue Growth (Over Past 5 Years)	26.8%
Cash / Debt	$36.6 million / $270.6 million
Other Highly Rated Oil and Gas Service Stocks	Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) Halliburton (NYSE: HAL)
CAPS Members Bullish on ION Also Bullish on	General Electric (NYSE: GE)
CAPS Members Bearish on ION Also Bearish on	Citigroup (NYSE: C) Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)

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

On CAPS, 97.3% of the 661 members who have rated ION believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include A6EIntruder and All-Star Teacherman1, who is ranked in the top 10% of our community.

Just three days ago, A6EIntruder summed up the seismic opportunity:

ION is [Dawson Geophysical's (Nasdaq: DWSN)] major US competitor. Both companies provide crucial seismic imaging data to [exploration and development] energy producers. You can't do E&D without this sort of information. It's a specialized, niche field whose chief human resources and assets can't be replaced over night by a competitor. I predict a wide-moat long term opportunity.

One week earlier, Teacherman1 also taught about ION's positive potential. Here's an excerpt:

With the economic downturn, and the subsequent reduction of exploration budgets, they have experienced a downturn in their business just at a time when they were poised to experience significant growth. ... They provide systems for both land and sea seismic data, and have been significantly expanding their global library of data. ...

They have a good management team, and good products and services, and are positioned to experience significant grow in both sales and revenues when the economy resumes a more normal position in expenditures in exploration budgets by the [exploration & production] companies, and the Seismic Contractors are able to get credit to acquire their equipment.

What do you think about ION, 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!