Every day, the sun rises on Wall Street, and a plethora of professional analysts wake to issue new opinions on stocks. Here at the Fool, we use our "This Just In" column to examine some of these picks -- and the track records of the firms behind them -- so individuals can make better investing decisions.

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More top-performing CAPS members are returning to the bullish camp in US Bancorp (NYSE:USB) -- after spending months at a mediocre three-star rank, the stock has recently popped up to touch the four-star level once again. A total of 2,022 members have given their opinion on US Bancorp, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.

While US Bancorp's profits took a hit due to higher credit costs in the second quarter, its operations showed strength; it pulled in its highest quarterly net revenue in company history at $4.2 billion. Earnings were down sharply from last year, but unlike Bank of America's (NYSE:BAC) and Citigroup's (NYSE:C) earnings that were chock-full of one-time gains, US Bancorp had few one-time items to report. Strength in mortgage banking activity, similar to what Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) saw, boosted income from fees and other charges by 9%. Net interest income also rose 10% on attractive spreads.

While bad loans are still an issue in its portfolio, US Bancorp has seen signs of improvement and better asset quality trends. CAPS members are warming up to the bank for other reasons too, like Warren Buffett's investment in the bank and its ability to repay TARP funds like Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) did. And the firm has reached a major milestone with the repurchase of $139 million in stock warrants from the Treasury to completely exit TARP.

To see what the very best CAPS analysts are saying now about US Bancorp -- as well as other winning stocks they are picking -- head on over to CAPS and have a look. The community research and resources in CAPS are totally free, unlike analyst opinions reserved for paying clients.

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