Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO 0.44%) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Cisco facts

Headquarters (founded)

San Jose, Calif. (1984)

Market Cap

$97.0 billion

Industry

Communications equipment

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$46.7 billion

Management

Chairman/CEO John Chambers

President/COO Gary Moore

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

16.4%

Cash/Debt

$45.0 billion / $16.3 billion

Dividend Yield

3.1%

Competitors

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ)

Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR)

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

On CAPS, 95% of the 10,988 members who have rated Cisco believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just yesterday, one of those Fools, climoron, touched on the tailwinds working in Cisco's favor:

This stock will way outperform the S&P 500 over the next few months and years ahead. [Cisco's] brilliant recent acquisition moves recently to acquire cloud computing data storage hosts and cloud management software companies perfectly links with its core business of switching and routing hardware. ... All federal agencies are being forced to adapt cloud systems to lower IT costs and footprints, and businesses are several years [ahead] of the Feds. It's the old saying "why buy and have to maintain when you can rent cheaper" from [Cisco] for all your IT and Cloud Services. I'm looking for [Cisco] to explode in value.

Of course, this short pitch doesn't even come close to telling the entire story for Cisco. You're in luck, though. The Fool's brand-new premium report on Cisco tells all sides of the story for one of the most powerful tech companies in the world. You can grab your copy now, which comes with free updates for 12 months, by just clicking here.

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