Each day, The Wall Street Journal publishes a list of large-cap winners. Here are Thursday's best:

Our top gainer, SLM, which we know as student loan specialist Sallie Mae, was up on buyout rumors. That's interesting, but we Fools want buy-to-hold stock stories. Are any of our large-cap leaders worth owning over the next three to five years?

We already know Emerson Electric could be. But so could gold and copper miner Freeport-McMoRan. The more than 65,000 professional and amateur investors following FCX in our Motley Fool CAPS database give it five stars. Here's some of the reasoning behind the rating. 

CAPS All-Star SokorScout writes:

Even before merging with [Phelps Dodge], [Freeport-McMoRan] was a sleeping giant well positioned for the upward movement of copper ... With geographical presence in the Asian growth phenomenon, the addition of [Phelps Dodge] will not only provide product diversity, but also further global diversity, as well.

Investor camistocks adds:

78% of [Freeport-McMoRan's] expected output is now copper, while 12% is molybdenum, and only 10% is gold! Goldbugs might be disappointed, but Freeport had already made 75% of last year's profit from copper and only 25% from gold. As a hard asset bull I still like the stock...

Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think by signing up for CAPS today. It's 100% free to participate.

See you back here tomorrow for more of the best of the biggest.

Cap off your day with related CAPS Foolishness:

• Check out Wednesday's stock stars.
• Should you invest in stocks splitting shares?
• Some 1-star stocks are surprising.