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 145,000 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
There was only one way Jim Cramer was going to recommend Brocade Communications, and that was as a takeover target. When both Cisco and Hewlett-Packard failed to pull the trigger, the data-storage networking specialist no longer held any allure.

You know, Brocade, I liked it lower … and then what happened is that Hewlett-Packard went and made its big acquisition, and then the next thing you know it didn't buy Brocade and, frankly, I am neutral on it now. ... I am neutral on Brocade ... don't buy, don't buy. ... I really wanted an acquisition. Cisco didn't buy them, which I own for ActionAlertsPlus.com, Hewlett didn't buy them. ... It looks like, right now, a bridesmaid, not a bride.

CAPS says
Always a bridesmaid never a bride, perhaps, but the CAPS community still believes the long-term prospects for Brocade remain strong. Fully 92% of the 599 members rating the company mark it to outperform the broad market averages, with a corresponding percentage of All-Star members agreeing. Wall Street is nearly unanimous in casting a favorable eye on Brocade.

CAPS member rachisme73 proved prescient, though, in suggesting that if Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) didn't pick up the tab, then neither would HP: "Once Oracle dropped out of the game [I'm] getting nervous, with no major competition will HP be willing to pay. Lose HP and the stock will drop like a rock!"

Still, the merger-and-acquisition climate might remain strong enough in this sector that Brocade could become a buyout target, according to IBSpud: "Brocade is clearly an outstanding company with a clear interest to its shareholders. With M & A activity picking up I'd be surprised if someone doesn't try to acquire in the next year."

This Fool says
It certainly looks as though it's going to be tough to find a partner interested in Brocade Communications, now that Hewlett-Packard has decided to acquire 3Com instead. That's going to provide some stiff competition for networking solutions, and having been a longtime partner of HP, the hit to Brocade's business over the long term could be significant. But some analysts, remaining hopeful, think Hewlett won't be abandoning Brocade, at least in certain lines of business. With shares having fallen more than 10% after the 3Com deal, Brocade may indeed prove attractive to someone.

Yet of more immediate interest is Brocade's decision to postpone its earnings call tonight until well after the markets are closed. With IT-spending cutbacks in place at large U.S. companies, does that decision portend a poor earnings report that Brocade's trying to hide under the radar? Or, with Hewlett-Packard also reporting today after the market closes, does it not want to conflict with that call? Who knows -- Brocade may actually surprise with a better-than-expected report.

That's not to say Brocade's future isn't still dicey, but with bearish sentiment already priced into the stock, a good earnings report coupled with upgraded guidance might be enough to help it reverse course.

Your say
CAPS members may stand with Jim Cramer or on opposite sides of the field, but the investor-intelligence community is more than what some All-Stars think, even if some of those All-Stars are TV personalities. But what do you think? Is Cramer right, or is he off his rocker? No need to hedge your thoughts on CAPS, so head off right now and let us know whether there's still a wealth of support stored up for Brocade.

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, CAPS is free.