Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, utility giant FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

FirstEnergy facts

Headquarters (founded) Akron, Ohio (1996)
Market Cap $18.8 billion
Industry Electric utilities
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $15.8 billion
Management CEO Anthony Alexander (since 2004)
CFO Mark Clark (since 2009)
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) 8.7%
Cash/Debt $202.0 million / $17.3 billion
Dividend Yield 4.9%
Competitors American Electric Power
Dominion Resources
Public Service Enterprise Group

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 95% of the 384 members who have rated FirstEnergy believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.  

Late last month, one of those bulls, All-Star TMFDeej, explained why the company's recent decision to close six coal-fired power plants bodes well for shareholders:

FirstEnergy is the dominant electricity provider in large chunks of Ohio. Consumers have no choice but to buy power from them. A lower supply of power plants with a steady or perhaps slightly increasing demand for power if the economy continues to improve means higher power prices. Higher power prices are obviously a big plus for a utility, particularly at a time when low natural gas and coal prices are driving the price of electricity down. ...

Also, keep in mind that FirstEnergy is actually closing old, inefficient plants to get this increase in revenue not spending big bucks to build new ones.

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