Great Call on Oracle! What's Next?

Maybe you're not a fan of Larry Ellison. Or maybe you're like Warren Buffett and avoid technology investments altogether. But even if Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) isn't on your watch list, you have to give credit where credit is due, and Oracle has been quite a performer.

I could base that on the fact that Oracle's stock has doubled over the past five years, a period when the market has been about as kind to investors as Pete Townshend is to his guitars. I could also base that on Oracle's growth, returns on capital, and fat profit margins.

But as we await Oracle's fiscal-first-quarter earnings release tomorrow, maybe the bigger question is whether Oracle's stock is a buy.

For some help with that question we can turn to the collective opinion of The Motley Fool's CAPS community, where Oracle sits at a middle-of-the road three-star rating. While more than 2,600 CAPS members think Oracle's stock will outperform the market, there are enough naysayers that the stock hasn't made it into the ranks of the community's favorite picks.

That, however, doesn't mean that there aren't CAPS members who have scored big points by betting on Oracle. CAPS member and fellow Fool writer Tim Beyers (TMFMileHigh), for example, gave Oracle a thumbs-up way back in May 2006 and has racked up more than 80 points on that on-the-money call.

Tim is ranked in the top 30% of all CAPS members and has scored more than 1,500 points while making correct calls 42% of the time. Oracle isn't Tim's only great call. Here's a look at a few of his other prescient picks:

Data from CAPS.

So what has this investor been looking at more recently? Here are a few of the most recent calls on CAPS:

Data from CAPS.

While not all of these picks may pan out, they could be a good place to start further research. I decided to take a closer look at Motley Fool Income Investor pick France Telecom.

Orange you glad for stability?
Let's face it; it can be hard to get excited about a big telephone company that's still partially owned by the French government. It sounds like a slow-growth plodder, if not downright stodgy.

But what France Telecom lacks in panache, it makes up for in stability. Not only does the company dominate the French market when it comes to landline voice and data services, but it also has a footprint in surrounding areas like Poland, Spain, and the U.K.

Maybe more interesting, though, is the company's mobile brand, Orange. The brand already has grabbed a good chunk of the market in the countries mentioned above, and could be on the verge of becoming an even larger player in the U.K. if a proposed merger with T-Mobile's U.K. operations comes together. Orange also has a much broader reach with operations in places like the Dominican Republic and Kenya.

This web of dependable operations hasn't led to a whole lot in terms of growth for France Telecom. It does, however, provide a strong backbone for the company's cash flow, which is well above what the company spends on capital expenditures. This, in turn, ensures that there's plenty of cash available to reward investors with healthy dividends.

On CAPS, 96% of those rating France Telecom are bulls. CAPS All-Star jaygatsby49, who is ranked in the top 1% of all CAPS members, recently gave the stock a thumbs-up, keeping the explanation short and sweet: "A safe place (balance sheet) to stick your money in uncertain times. Also I like the dividend yield."

But here's the important question: What's your take? Will France Telecom's stability treat portfolios well over the long term? Get in the action by clicking over to CAPS. It's absolutely free and already has more than 140,000 stock pickers chipping in to find the best stocks out there.

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