Stock Smackdown: Cramer vs. CAPS

There's no denying that Mad Money host Jim Cramer is entertaining, popular, and passionate. On many occasions, he's even right. So he's smart, funny, and the closest thing to a stock market rock star -- but is he smarter than you?

The Fool's free investing community, Motley Fool CAPS, aggregates the opinion of more than 120,000 members to assign ratings for each stock's likelihood of outperforming or underperforming the market. For the first 20 months since we began tracking the CAPS community's collective intelligence in late 2006, the data shows that newly minted five-star stocks offer the best opportunities for investors, while lowest-rated companies fared the worst.

Cramming for Cramer
Below, we look at some top stocks that Cramer picked and panned during last week's "lightning rounds," and compare them to how the CAPS community sees their future:

Source: CAPS and Mad Money Recap.

Cramer says...
Inflation is one reason to consider making gold an integral part of your portfolio. When it comes to folks who mine the stuff, there's probably none better than Yamana Gold. Yet a poor quarter with a bad earnings miss probably suggests you should wait to add the gold producer to your portfolio, even if its price has fallen dramatically. Here's what Cramer had to say:

First of all, I think there's a place for gold in absolutely every portfolio, because, if you have 10 stocks, I think you want to own one as gold, because I do believe inflation will be a problem. Near-term inflation is so not a problem... We're in a deflationary environment, which is one of the reasons why that stock fell from $16 to $4. (Yamana CEO) Peter Marrone missed the quarter badly. I want to see the end of tax-loss selling, before I'll even think of buying AUY.

CAPS says...
It seems like Jim Cramer and the CAPS community disagree on Yamana Gold. More than 95% of the All-Star members of the investor intelligence community think the gold producer will outperform the market. This stock has been highly rated since the CAPS service began, often trading at a top five-star rating.

Dig a little deeper, though, and CAPS' and Cramer's views don't seem so divergent. Top-rated CAPS All-Star member rebelseeker also thinks inflationary pressures will push Yamana higher, but like Cramer points out, the company may still face some short-term weakness:

Solid company low debt with good management. Current economic conditions may depress stock lower; but, rebound and coming inflation will double or triple stock in 2 or 3 years. Look at stock price history and recessions. This recession will be longer than several months. When FED can no longer lower intrest rate inflation will rise and so will gold prices.

While CAPS and Cramer may grudgingly agree on Yamana, the case of Intel points up one of the Mad Money host's main criticisms: He can change his opinion of a company on a dime. Last week, he thought Intel was going through a "problematic period;" this week, he feels it's a compelling buy because of its dividend:

If Microsoft does well, Intel does well. And Intel yields 4%. It just hit my 4% chart, which makes me feel like that's a compelling buy.

The whiplash you can get trading like that could put your neck in a brace.

Your say
While CAPS members may stand with Jim Cramer or on opposite sides of the field, our investor intelligence community includes more than the lofty opinions of a handful of All-Stars -- even if they are TV personalities. What do you think? Is Cramer right, or off his rocker? Head over to CAPS and sound off with your thoughts on Yamana.

Motley Fool CAPS is a great place to start your own research on these stocks. Read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made, all from a stock's CAPS page. Best of all, it's free!