Based on the aggregated intelligence of 160,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, French telecommunications giant France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

France Telecom facts

Headquarters (Founded)

Paris, France (1990)

Market Cap

$63.6 billion

Industry

Integrated telecom services

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$62.6 billion

Management

CEO Stephane Richard (since March 2010)

CFO Gervais Pellissier (since March 2009)

Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)

15.6%

Dividend Yield

7.9%

Competitors

Vodafone Group (Nasdaq: VOD)

AT&T (NYSE: T)

Accenture (NYSE: ACN)

Other Highly Rated Telecom Stocks

Verizon (NYSE: VZ)

Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN)

China Telecom (NYSE: CHA)

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 96% of the 458 members who have rated France Telecom believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include GingersBread and All-Star aitraders.

Just last week, GingersBread tapped France Telecom as a particularly smart way to go global: "Stable low-growth, high cash-flow operations in France provide investment capital for riskier, high-growth potential expansion of networks throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as support extremely high dividends."

In a pitch from late last year, aitraders also made a French connection:

Dividend, Europe (foreign diversification), Telecommunication -- the provider of the Orange network has become very dividend focused in recent past and this focus has allayed most of my concerns investing in a company part owned by France. They also have excellent exposure and focused growth opportunities in emerging markets. It hit my sweet spot for covering some holes in my allocation.

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