Based on the aggregated intelligence of 125,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, fluid control systems provider Flowserve (NYSE:FLS) has earned a respected four-star ranking. While five-star stocks have been the best performers, our data has shown that four-star stocks still outshine the market by a significant margin and shouldn't be taken lightly; conversely, low-rated stocks have woefully lagged the market average.

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

Flowserve facts 

Headquarters (Founded)

Irving, Texas (1912)

Market Cap

$2.72 billion

Industry

Industrial machinery

TTM Revenue

$4.41 billion

Management

CEO Lewis Kling (since 2005)

CFO Mark Blinn (since 2004)

Return on Equity (average last three years)

20.9%

Dividend Yield

2.1%

Competitors

Tyco International (NYSE:TYC)

United Technologies (NYSE:UTX)

CAPS members bullish on FLS also bullish on

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

PotashCorp (NYSE:POT)

CAPS members bearish on FLS also bearish on

Manitowoc (NYSE:MTW)

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's), and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, 67 of the 74 All-Star members who have rated Flowserve -- or 91% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500. These bulls include jimbopicks and Schwaggz, both of whom are ranked in the top 20% of our community.

Two weeks ago, jimbopicks wrote that, "As demand in the oil industry picks up either due to exploration or repairs, this company stands to prosper."

In an earlier pitch from last month, Schwaggz agrees, highlighting several sources of Flowserve's future growth:

Water will probably be the next big commodity and obviously you need pumps for that. plus as the world demands more power, you need pumps for that. power companies run the pumps 24/7 so they always need replacement pumps and parts. I think it reached its highs when people finally thought that the alberta sands projects would be taking off with crude above the $60-$80 threshold to be profitable to pump it up there. should recover from this selloff.

What do you think about Flowserve, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.

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