4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: RBC

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Canadian banking giant Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Royal Bank facts

Headquarters (founded)	Toronto, Canada (1864)
Market cap	$65.84 billion
Industry	Diversified banks
Trailing-12-month revenue	$20.31 billion
Management	President/CEO Gordon Nixon (since 2001) CFO Janice Fukakusa (since 2004)
Return on capital (average, last three years)	19.2%
Dividend yield	3.9%
Competitors	Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM)
CAPS members bullish on RBC also bullish on	Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) General Electric (NYSE: GE)
CAPS members bearish on RBC also bearish on	Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) Citigroup (NYSE: C)

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

Over on CAPS, fully 206 of the 219 All-Star members who have rated Royal Bank -- some 94% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include Gumfactor and my fellow Fool Matt Koppenheffer (TMFKopp), both of whom are ranked in the top 6% of our community.

Just last week, Gumfactor tapped the stock as a refreshingly bankable income opportunity: "Canadian banks are up a ton, but aren't done yet. In addition to the fact that fair pricing has the stocks still 20% under-valued, they're all boasting a 3-6% dividend. How can you go wrong?"

In an earlier pitch, Matt also gave Royal Bank the royal treatment:

Like any other bank, [Royal Bank's] core value is its ability to gather low-interest deposits and turn around and lend that money successfully at higher rates. Of course, "successfully" is the key word there. As banks all over the world have shown, when you're not diligent about the loans you make, you could suddenly face a tsunami of writedowns.

To date, the results coming from [Royal Bank] suggest that its lending practices were far more conservative than many of its competitors in North America -- or around the globe for that matter. In addition, the bank has captive insurance and capital markets units, which have held up well during the financial market turmoil and contributed to the bank's overall strength.

What do you think about Royal Bank, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 135,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.