Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, oil and natural gas company Linn Energy (Nasdaq: LINE) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Linn facts

Headquarters (founded)

Houston (2003)

Market Cap

$6.71 billion

Industry

Oil and gas exploration and production

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$697.07 million

Management

CEO Mark Ellis

CFO Kolja Rockov

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

6.2%

Cash/Debt

$236 million / $2.74 billion

Dividend Yield

6.9%

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

On CAPS, 97.5% of the 886 members who have rated Linn believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include sudspark and All-Star ikkyu2, who is ranked in the top 5% of our community.

Two months ago, sudspark tapped Linn as a tempting total-return opportunity: "Great dividend and great play on energy. Easy 20% upside including dividends."

In fact, Linn's dividend yield of 6.9% is currently higher than that of larger MLPs like Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) (5.7%),ONEOK Partners (NYSE: OKS) (5.7%), and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) (6.2%).

CAPS All-Star ikkyu2 elaborates on the bull case:

[Linn] began last decade with an Appalachian natgas asset and eventually purchased Dominion's Mid-American (Oklahoma, mostly) oil and gas exploration and production rights. ...

These assets are maturing and coming online. The beneficial tax treatment on the distributions from this production will support this per-unit price at a price higher than what its yield and risk would otherwise appear to justify, and that will make it outperform the S+P all by itself.

What do you think about Linn, 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!