4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: General Steel Holdings

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 115,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Chinese steel producer General Steel Holdings (NYSE: GSI) has earned a respected four-star ranking. While five-star stocks have been the best performers, our data has shown that four-star stocks still outshine the market by a significant margin and shouldn't be taken lightly; conversely, low-rated stocks have woefully lagged the market average.

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

General Steel facts

 

Headquarters (Founded)	Beijing, China (1988)
Market cap	$494 million
Industry	Steel and iron
TTM revenue	$1.29 billion
Management	CEO Zuo Sheng Yu CFO John Chen
Compound annual revenue growth (over last three years)	135%
CAPS members bullish on GSI also bullish on	Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Vale (NYSE: RIO) Suntech Power (NYSE: STP)
CAPS members bearish on GSI also bearish on	Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (Nasdaq: USAP) James River Coal (Nasdaq: JRCC) Gerdau (NYSE: GGB)

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

Over on CAPS, 339 of 360 of the members who have rated General Steel -- or 94% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500. These members include tmd6966 and wallypk1.

Less than two weeks ago, tmd6966 observed that General Steel:

… keeps moving forward, buying up smaller companies, and growing. It is one of the least known companies on the NYSE. Small steel company in China. Incredible growth, keeps beating expectations.

An earlier pitch from wallypk1 in June followed that bullish line of reasoning, highlighting General Steel's attractive long-term tailwinds. "Due to the rapid growth in China's economy and infrastructure, the company is well positioned to occupy a somewhat specialized niche in the country's growth. Steel production is among the most basic industries to a country's development, so GSI is in a very good position both as a domestic steel producer and as an exporter of steel to neighboring countries in the Far-East."

Copyright © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate.