Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, biodefense specialist Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE: EBS) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Emergent facts

Headquarters (Founded) Rockville, Md. (1998)
Market Cap $558.6 million
Industry Biotechnology
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $283.9 million
Management

Founder/Chairman/CEO Fuad El-Hibri

President/COO Daniel Abdun-Nabi
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) 10.2%
Cash/Debt $127.1 million / $39.3 million
Competitors

Merck (NYSE: MRK)

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)

Sanofi (NYSE: SNY)

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

On CAPS, 96.5% of the 513 members who have rated Emergent believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include Lippoldtskivich and All-Star zzlangerhans, who is ranked in the top 0.5% of our community. 

This past summer, Lippoldtskivich succinctly summed up the Emergent opportunity: "Portfolio of medical products relevant to health and security issues, with potential to grow. Volatile though, so buy on dips."

Over the next five years, in fact, Emergent is expected to grow its bottom line at a solid rate of 10% annually. That's faster than much larger rivals like Merck (4.5%), Pfizer (3.5%), and Sanofi (1%).

CAPS biotech expert zzlangerhans elaborates on the Emergent bull case:

[T]he company has numerous other dishes in the kitchen. They recently initiated a phase Ib trial of cheaply acquired Trubion compound TRU-16 in relapsed B cell lymphoma. Trubion's SBI-087 is in a phase II dose finding study for rheumatoid arthritis. Data from a phase II trial of their TB vaccine in infants is expected in H2 2012, and a phase IIb trial of the TB vaccine in HIV patients may be initiated in the near future. The company has also acquired rights to zanolimumab anti-T cell antibody for CTCL and PTCL from TenX Biopharma.

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