Based on the aggregated intelligence of 145,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Brazilian water utility Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (SABESP) (NYSE:SBS) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

SABESP facts

Headquarters (Founded)

Sao Paulo, Brazil (1954)

Market Cap

$4.06 billion

Industry

Water utilities

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$3.53 billion

Management

CEO Dr. Gesner Filho
CFO Rui Affonso

Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)

10.2%

Cash / Debt

$206.1 million / $3.24 billion

Competitors

Veolia Environnement (NYSE:VE)

CAPS Members Bullish on SBS Also Bullish on

Vale (NYSE:VALE)
Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

CAPS Members Bearish on SBS Also Bearish on

Home Depot (NYSE:HD)
American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO)

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

On CAPS, 99% of the 1,018 members who have rated SABESP believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These top-ranked bulls include globalsailor and aitraders.

Late last year, globalsailor summed up SABSEP in purely bullish terms:

It has little debt, reasonable earnings, it gets its income in Brazilian reals and it is trading ridiculously below its book value. Brazilian sanitation and water delivery will definitely have to improve so the growth prospects are quite good. If I had the money I'd buy the whole company.

In an earlier pitch, aitraders follows that line of thinking:

As the city of Sao Paolo, one of the world's biggest, continues to increase their middle class, they should have ability to grow network and rates as [Brazil] becomes one of [South America's] strongest economies.

Down side is effort required to keep up with financials (reported in REALS), govt. involvement, irregular dividend payments, and potential currency fluctuation, however, the basic service of providing water and sewage with govt. authorization is about as big a moat as you can get.

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