Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, natural gas and oil producer Apache (NYSE: APA) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Apache facts

Headquarters (Founded) Houston (1954)
Market Cap $39.6 billion
Industry Oil and gas exploration and production
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $14.56 billion
Management

Chairman/CEO G. Steven Farris

CFO Thomas Chambers
Return on Capital (Average, Past 3 Years) 13.6%
Cash/Debt $1.1 billion / $7.9 billion
Dividend Yield 0.6%
Competitors

Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC)

BP (NYSE: BP)

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM)

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

On CAPS, 97% of the 1,922 members who have rated Apache believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include All-Stars reddingrunner and JTmoneys, both of whom are ranked in the top 15% of our community.

Earlier this month, reddingrunner tapped Apache as a relatively stable selection: "Besides its core business and stats, I'm looking at this from the LNG standpoint. It's a much safer play for LNG (liquefied natural gas) than [Cheniere Energy] which is building a liquification plant."

Currently, Apache even sports a cheapish price-to-cash flow of 4.8. That represents a discount to rivals like Anadarko (6.5), BP (13.2), and Exxon (6.6).

CAPS member JTmoneys elaborates on the bull case:

Apache has there hands in everything. They have revolutionized the Oil & gas industry by the angled drilling technology and with the huge $7 bn purchase from BP ... Apache is showing that they plan on growing even more. They are a very diverse company that is willing to explore new avenues throughout the world. They have a big bank account ... The company is good at what they do and doing it smart.

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