Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, life sciences company Life Technologies (Nasdaq: LIFE) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Life facts

Headquarters (founded) Carlsbad, Calif. (1987)
Market Cap $8.7 billion
Industry Life sciences tools and services
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $3.8 billion
Management Chairman/CEO Gregory Lucier
President/COO Mark Stevenson
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) 7.7%
Cash/Debt $865.3 million / $2.7 billion
Competitors Affymetrix
Agilent Technologies
BD Biosciences

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

On CAPS, 95% of the 212 members who have rated Life believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.  

Earlier this week, one of those Fools, TopDownTrends, touched on the tailwinds working in Life's favor:

Poised to benefit from aging population in developing world coupled with the industry initiative to personalize medicine. Life makes the diagnostic and analysis equipment for this high growth sub-industry. While competition is fierce and a lot of riding on installed base of networks, Life offers a diversified portfolio of equipment and services, including the tools for the increasingly popular DNA sequencing space. In my view, Life will outperform over the long term. 

If you want to retire rich, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Owning exceptional stocks is a surefire way to secure your financial future. Of course, despite a strong four-star rating, Life may not be your top choice.

We've found another stock we are incredibly excited about -- excited enough to dub it "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012." We have compiled a special free report for investors to uncover this stock today. The report is 100% free, but it won't be here forever, so click here to access it now.

Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the new TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.