4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Apollo Investment

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 130,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, business-development company (BDC) Apollo Investment (Nasdaq: AINV) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Apollo Investment facts

Headquarters (incorporated)	New York City (2004)
Market Cap	$291.55 million
Industry	Closed-end fund
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$381 million
Management	CEO James Zelter COO Patrick Dalton
Return on Assets (average, last three years)	4.4%
Trailing Dividend Yield	50.7%
Competitors	American Capital (Nasdaq: ACAS) Ares Capital (Nasdaq: ARCC)
CAPS members bullish on AINV also bullish on:	General Electric (NYSE: GE) Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
CAPS members bearish on AINV also bearish on:	Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB)

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

Over on CAPS, 931 of the 962 members who have rated Apollo Investment -- or 97% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include evilrage and All-Star rugbynum2.

Last week, evilrage noted that Apollo Investment "has been battered and beaten with the rest of the financials. Long-term, it should be a sound investment." Our CAPS member goes on: "Another dividend cut seems likely given the current yield, but expect capital gains to skyrocket."

In a pitch from two weeks ago, rugbynum2 taps the stock as a low-priced (which is even lower today), high-reward situation:

-Good portfolio companies sponsored by some of the best [private equity managing partners]. (ie Bain, Carlyle, and Blackstone). [Private equity] has their skin in the game ... and will do everything they can to save the equity and thus also [Apollo]....
-Dividend cut is good for investors. That money will serve better uses remaining in the company than in investors' hands. This could possibly be the best time in decades to be a mezzanine financier. Cut the div also helps liquidity, which is the difference between survival and liquidation.
-The biggest risk is that they will have to renegotiate covenants and forced to stop paying out any distributions … but at $2.30/share this risk seems priced in already.

What do you think about Apollo Investment, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 130,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.