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 130,000 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
Is chasing yield a smart investing strategy? Cramer seems to think it is when it comes to natural resources asset management. In choosing Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE:KMP) over timberland steward Plum Creek Timber, Cramer says he bases his choice on the bigger yield:

A local company there ... I would rather have a higher yield if I am going to go that route, so I am going to send you to ... yes, I don't care if I am a broken record ... Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, that is the better play ... how is that one doing ... that is one that we have been recommending for like 90 or 95 shows, oh, holding in there 8.8% yield.

CAPS says
Kinder Morgan may have a tasty yield, but Plum Creek has earned the higher rating among CAPS members who, like All-Star devoish, find the underlying assets a satisfying bit to own over the long term:

This company just sold Montana acres to the Nature Conservancy for over $1500 each. Presuming all the acres North of the Mason Dixon line from Maine to Washington equal that value, well that is todays market cap. The larger half of their acreage, below the Mason Dixon line from Texas eastward to North Carolina and Florida, is then [included] free.

CAPS doesn't disparage Kinder Morgan, which provides energy transportation and storage management. Indeed, members like BYRDJD believe the pipelines amount to a steady stream of income:

The tax favored distributions keep rolling in. Basically a toll-road (pipelines and terminals) with locked in contracts with profitable businesses. Makes my tax return complicated though.

Perhaps instead of a straight up or down choice between the two, the prudent investor would consider both to be a top-notch investment. After all, Plum Creek is the largest private timberland owner in the U.S., with 7.4 million acres in 19 states, making it an income-producing play that should perform handsomely when the housing market finally turns around.

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? Why not share your thoughts on Plum Creek Timber?

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.