Based on the aggregated intelligence of 165,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, medical device maker Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Becton Dickinson facts

Headquarters (founded)

Franklin Lakes, N.J. (1897)

Market Cap

$16.2 billion

Industry

Health-care equipment

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$7.54 billion

Management

CEO Edward Ludwig (since 2000)

CFO David Elkins (since 2008)

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

23.4%

Cash/Debt

$1.4 billion / $1.7 billion

Dividend Yield

2.1%

Competitors

Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT)

Baxter International (NYSE: BAX)

Covidien (NYSE: COV)

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

On CAPS, 98% of the 1,022 members who have rated Becton Dickinson believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include givitsound and All-Star TMFDeej, who is ranked in the top 1% of our community.

Just last month, givitsound tapped Becton as a rather timely selection: "Waited for a good entry point and here it is. Health care reform shouldn't effect the needle, scalpel and small appliance people. Safe dividend and decent growth. Not to mention [Warren Buffett's] still buying."

According to its most recent portfolio holdings update, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) did, indeed, up its stake in Becton Dickinson over the past quarter. Of course, when you couple Becton's industry leading returns on capital with the fact that it trades at a P/E discount to rivals Abbott, Baxter, and Covidien, it's easy to understand Buffett's, as well as our community's, attraction to the stock. In fact, several CAPS All-Stars, including TMFDeej, have even tapped Becton as a steadily growing income opportunity:

Becton Dickinson is a supplier of things like syringes, needles, blades, and testing equipment for the medical industry. The great thing about [Becton Dickinson] is that a large chunk of its products not only are non-discretionary but they also must be disposed of after use, creating a huge stream of recurring revenue. ...

While its [dividend yield] isn't huge, it is around 2%. I expect this number to grow steadily in the future as Becton Dickinson rolls out new products ... and continues to operate more efficiently. ...

Many analysts think that the company will receive a nice boost in revenue in the coming years from demographic trends, specifically an increase in diabetes cases in an aging global population.

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