Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, rare-earths miner Rare Element Resources (AMEX: REE) has received the dreaded one-star ranking.

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

Rare Element facts

Headquarters (Founded)

Vancouver, Canada (1999)

Market Cap

$436.3 million

Industry

Industrial metals and minerals

Management

CEO Dr. Donald Ranta

CFO Mark Brown

Return on Equity (Average Past 3 Years)

(25%)

Cash/Debt

$67.1 million / $0

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

On CAPS, 56% of the 247 members who have rated Rare Element believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include fellow Fool Rich Duprey (TMFCop) and liszewski, both of whom are ranked in the top 15% of our community.

Just last month, Rich tapped Rare Element as a rather empty opportunity:

Its Bear Lodge property was previously drilled by Molycorp (NYSE: MCP), Hecla Mining, and Duval, all without success. Newmont Mining and others sought to find gold there. ... Can it really find something other bigger, better financed companies could not? Possibly, but not likely.

In fact, shares of Rare Element have fallen more than 36% year-to-date. That's much worse than other rare-earth stocks like Avalon Rare Metals (AMEX: AVL), Molycorp, and Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSE: REMX), which are down 0.5%, 13%, and 9%, respectively, over the same period.

CAPS All-Star liszewski elaborates on the bear case:

So, what do we have here? A junior miner with a mine that no one wants. Said mine "might" be profitable in 2015 or later. Sounds like something worth 600m to me!

In all seriousness, I have been skeptical of this whole rare earth metals bubble from the start. Bree-x is going down long term. Good story, bad ending. Management has been slacking with regards to getting the mine up and running because they know that it is not up to par. The people in charge of this one will not be kind to shareholders. Newmont wasn't interested in their assets, so why should you be?

[Molycorp] might actually come out of this whole thing as a decent investment, but [Rare Element]? With their two employees? No chance.

What do you think about Rare Element, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Staying away from dangerous stocks is crucial to securing your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to flag them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!