Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, electrical products maker Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Emerson facts

Headquarters (Founded) St. Louis (1890)
Market Cap $39.6 billion
Industry Electrical components and equipment
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $22.65 billion
Management

Chairman/CEO David Farr

President/COO Edward Monser
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) 22.4%
Cash/Debt $1.59 billion / $5.12 billion
Dividend Yield 2.6%
Competitors

ABB (NYSE: ABB)

General Electric (NYSE: GE)

Hitachi (NYSE: HIT)

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

On CAPS, 98% of the 1,280 members who have rated Emerson believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include PopsDaniecki and jareda.

Just last month, PopsDaniecki tapped Emerson as a great way to play defense: "In tough times buy the dividend and the management ... at a decent price. While I feel we are still in for a rather large 'correction' in the coming 20 months, I also can't sit by waiting the entire time."

Emerson even boasts a solid three-year average operating margin of 16.4%. That's higher than rival industrial gorillas ABB (13.2%), General Electric (9.5%), and Hitachi (2.9%).

CAPS member jareda elaborates on the Emerson bull case:

As a global leader in innovative technologies that help companies reduce power consumption and increase energy efficiency (reduce energy costs), Emerson's technologies will remain in high demand as the energy costs continue to rise. Emerson's solid dividend and long history of raising dividends, provides a safety net an overall declining market. Buying incrementally during pullbacks makes sense as the trend of ever increasing global energy demand will eventually overrun short term market down trends and help power Emerson higher.

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