4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Alleghany

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 125,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, insurance holding company Alleghany (NYSE: Y  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Alleghany facts

Headquarters (founded)	New York, New York (1929)
Market Cap	$2.18 billion
Industry	Property and casualty insurance
TTM Revenue	$1.38 billion
Management	President/CEO Weston Hicks (since 2004) CFO Roger Gorham (since 2006)
Compound Annual Book Value Growth (over last five years)	12.3%
Competitors	White Mountains (NYSE: WTM  ) AIG (NYSE: AIG  )
CAPS members bullish on Alleghany also bullish on	General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  )
CAPS members bearish on Alleghany also bearish on	Citigroup (NYSE: C  )

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

Over on CAPS, 252 of the 267 members who have rated Alleghany -- or 94% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include sTucKatsPEicheR and MJKpayday.

Late last month, sTucKatsPEicheR described Alleghany in simple bullish terms: "Great company being [run] by very bright minds. Have shareholder value in mind."

In a pitch from October, MJKpayday highlighted the stock's cheapish valuation as a remarkable long-term opportunity:

Over the next few decades, Alleghany is set to become one of our nation's most admired, loved, and profitable larger insurance and holding firms along with Markel, White [Mountain], and their mentor, Berkshire Hathaway [NYSE: BRK-A]. Over the last few decades the price of Alleghany has oscillated back forth around it's true value and today represents the most extreme outlying point since its inception, offering an opportunity to ride both the potential for a near term return to more common price to value ratios, and the company's 2 decade long trend of increasing book value.

What do you think about Alleghany, 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.