Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, biotechnology company AVI BioPharma (Nasdaq: AVII) has received a distressing two-star ranking.

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

AVI facts

Headquarters (founded) Bothell, Wash. (1980)
Market Cap $209.0 million
Industry Biotechnology
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $47.0 million
Management CEO Christopher Garabedian (since 2011)
CFO J. David Boyle, II (since 2008)
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) (151.1%)
Cash/Debt $39.9 million / $1.8 million
Competitors Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
GlaxoSmithKline
Isis Pharmaceuticals

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

On CAPS, 13% of the 194 members who have rated AVI believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Earlier this month, one of those Fools, All-Star zzlangerhans, summed up the AVI bear case for our community:

I find myself gingerly handing out red thumbs to the baby bios that all started running up in late December without catalysts, hoping I'm not pushing against the edge of some ridiculous new biotech bubble.

Over the last five years AVI has been a consistent underperformer, with slow progress and little clinical success from their antisense pipeline. The current projects in clinical development bear little resemblance to the coronary stent and hepatitis C-related compounds I remember from 2007. ... I don't see any clear pathway toward profitability in the foreseeable future through the antiviral compounds that remain in phase I.

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