Based on the aggregated intelligence of 165,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, optical networking specialist Infinera (Nasdaq: INFN) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Infinera facts

Headquarters (Founded)

Sunnyvale, Calif. (2000)

Market Cap

$657.5 million

Industry

Communications equipment

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$338.3 million

Management

CEO Thomas Fallon

Co-Founder/Chief Technology Officer Drew Perkins

Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)

(5.8%)

Compound Annual Revenue Growth (Over Past 3 Years)

47.8%

Cash/Debt

$265.1 million / $0

Competitors

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO)

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)

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

On CAPS, 98% of the 1,245 members who have rated Infinera believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include Cdrreeves and All-Star TSIF, who is ranked in the top 1% of our community.

Early this year, Cdrreves offered Fools a nicely balanced bull case: 

Products positioned to leverage increasing load (video, audio, etc.) on the Internet. ... Not expecting this to go straight up -- it's a competitive field and this is a relatively new company in competition with some heavyweights.

No kidding. While Infinera's photonic integrated circuit technology has slowly gained acceptance over the past few years, the price edge that networking giants Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, and Ericsson have over them continues to be a big challenge. And with Alcatel recently unveiling its 100G optical networking solution, many on Wall Street are concerned that Infinera, which doesn't plan to introduce a 100G system until 2012, is finding itself at yet another disadvantage. Of course, with the stock down 30% over the last three months, CAPS All-Stars like TSIF think Infinera is at least worth a closer look:

Jumping the lower tier and jumping to 100 Gigabites per second have left some investors wondering if the jump with no interim stops will cripple Infinera's ability to bridge the revenue needed to make the leap in one shot. ... In the short run, revenue has been climbing, but not booking on the bottom line as R&D and Sales rise in proportion. ... In the long run Infinera needs to get ahead of its competitors and get real market share. Overall, demand will be there for 100 Gigabite networks, but competition is heating up and opportunity limited.

What do you think about Infinera, or any other stock for that matter? 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, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to find them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!