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?

Cramming for Cramer
The Fool's free investing community, Motley Fool CAPS, aggregates the opinions of more than 125,000 members to assign ratings for each stock's likelihood of outperforming or underperforming the market.

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.

Cramer says
It's tempting to want to follow Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm that agreed to purchase $175 million of Nuance Communications stock at around $10 per share, a move which Jim Cramer says is very bullish. It's also worth noting that IBM and Nuance are entering into a licensing and technology pact, with products possibly available within two years. But Cramer advises investors to take the money and run:

Well, I know they bought a stake … which is very, very bullish … because they are very smart … but Leila, I think you have to take the money and run … it is a little bit of a Steve Miller situation … you have had a nice move here … I am relying on Steve Miller here … some people call me a joker… some people call me Marie … some people call me … well, a smoker, a toker … I say I am a seller … and I want you to take profits.

CAPS says
Back in November, CAPS All-Star LipniakMajorat thought that a little recession might be good for Nuance, as it would becalm the tech leader's acquisitiveness and let it focus on its existing businesses:

Bad economic environment may, paradoxically, help Nuance as it will prevent this Boston-based company from continuing its growth-through-acquisitions strategy and instead force it to downsize (some of it happened before the recent market turmoil) and focus on a proper integration of existing lines of business. Much of Nuance’s revenue, particularly from medical information solutions, speech recognition software and cell phone applications should not be terribly sensitive to consumer and capital spending. In fact, I expect that techs offering tangible productivity enhancing solutions will enjoy better times then the rest of the market.

Your say
While CAPS members may stand with Jim Cramer or on opposite sides of the field, the investor intelligence community is more than what some All-Stars think, even if they are TV personalities. But what do you think? Is Cramer right, or off his rocker? Head off to CAPS right now and sound off with your thoughts on Nuance Communications -- or any other stock.

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!