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 opinion 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.

Sources: Motley Fool CAPS and "Mad Money" Recap.

Cramer says …
There are only two steelmakers that Jim Cramer likes, and AK Steel isn't one of them. Although some analysts feel the company is priced low enough for a takeover -- with a couple of potential buyers mentioned, including U.S. Steel (NYSE:X) -- Cramer says consolidation won't be happening anytime soon in the industry:

I don't like the steel companies right here, and particularly that one. Sell, sell, sell ... I do like Nucor, if it comes to the $20s. And, if Allegheny Technologies comes down a lot, I might like that one too. We're not getting anywhere near that [AK Steel]. That was something that should have been taken over a long time ago. It didn't, and there's no takeovers coming in steel.

There are any number of reasons it might not happen, including still-plunging steel prices and rising inventories. Both situations will put a damper on earnings (even Nucor saw a 71% drop in profits, despite a history of making lots of cash). With ArcelorMittal expecting a further 10% drop in demand, there seems little chance of steel bending its flat forecast.

CAPS Says ...
As with many steel companies, the market is pricing AK Steel at levels not seen in years, as CAPS member hotelie wrote recently:

could things get worse for AKS? they may, but it's trading at ... 10 cents for every dollar in sales, and less than book value...looking for a bounce to around the $10 level...at that point, decide trader or investor...at one time, this was a nice takeover target...we'll see if it gets gobbled up by one of the bigger guys out there...

Many CAPS members would seem to agree with that assessment; 93.5% of those rating the company think it will outperform the market. Still, with China's steel mills recently increasing their own production, that positive sentiment might not come to fruition for a long while yet.

Your say
While CAPS members may stand with Jim Cramer or on the opposite side of the field, the investor intelligence community is more than what some All-Stars think, even if they are TV personalities. What do you think? Is Cramer right or off his rocker? Why not head off right now to CAPS, and sound off with your thoughts on whether AK Steel is hot slag or cold-rolled?

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!