Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores (WMT 0.89%) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Wal-Mart facts

 

 

Headquarters (founded)

Bentonville, Ark. (1945)

Market Cap

$254.4 billion

Industry

Hypermarkets and super centers

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$470.3 billion

Management

CEO Michael Duke (since 2009)

CFO Charles Holley (since 2010)

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

23.5%

Cash/Debt

$8.9 billion / $57.2 billion

Dividend Yield

2.4%

Competitors

Amazon.com

Costco Wholesale

Target

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

On CAPS, 89% of the 7,087 members who have rated Wal-Mart believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.   

Just last week, one of those bulls, fellow Fool Thomas Engle (TMF1000), succinctly summed up the outperform case for our community:

WMT has been under pressure from Amazon and Costco. But I believe WMT will continue to grow. All three will take market share from weaker retailers. WMT now pays a $1.88 annual dividend which at a present price of $74.95 gives them a dividend yield of 2.5% which in a low dividend environment is a pretty good yield. They generate good cash flow and their cash flow yield is currently 4.9%. They aren't trading for a bad value. In fact it is about the same as they traded during the recession. They are very stable and very consistent.

I think the investments they are making to develop their website will pay off and give Amazon a run for its money. It is Amazon's third party dealers that will keep Amazon strong. Both are going to do well going forward.

Wal Mart is also a real estate play with $113 billion in land and buildings. The land alone is worth $25 billion on the books which means it could easily be worth a lot more.