Based on the aggregated intelligence of 165,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, silver royalty holding company Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Silver Wheaton facts

Headquarters

Vancouver, Canada

Market Cap

$8.3 billion

Industry

Precious metals and minerals

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$341 million

Management

CEO Peter Barnes (since 2006)
CFO Gary Brown (since 2008)

Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)

7.9%

Cash/Debt

$323 million / $121 million

Competitors

Silver Standard Resources (Nasdaq: SSRI)
Pan American Silver (Nasdaq: PAAS)
Coeur d'Alene Mines (NYSE: CDE)

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 96% of the 1,985 members who have rated Silver Wheaton believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include Ruleoflaw and All-Star DarthMaul09, who is ranked in the top 1% of our community.

A few months ago, Ruleoflaw listed several reasons to be bullish on the stock: "(1) inflation, sinking currencies, fear; (2) silver is undervalued compared to gold; (3) consumption (use, not hoarding) of silver is substantial and growing; (4) [Silver Wheaton's] business plan (royalties from many mines) is low-risk."

Specifically, Silver Wheaton makes up-front investments in miners around the world, in exchange for the right to purchase silver streams at a fixed low cost. The company's two largest deals are inked with Goldcorp's (NYSE: GG) Penasquito mine and Barrick Gold's (NYSE: ABX) Pascua Lama mine. With that kind of capital-light, low-risk business model, it should be no surprise that Silver Wheaton's whopping 50%-plus operating margin absolutely dwarfs those of traditional silver miners like Silver Standard, Pan American, and Coeur d'Alene.

Just last week, CAPS All-Star DarthMaul09 also helped Fools to see the stock's silver lining:

To summarize it has a great potential to make money with very low risk and relatively low overhead. ... Since gold and to a lesser degree silver are becoming recognized as currencies with an inverse relationship to the US dollar, it makes sense that investors move toward the precious metals market to benefit from the Fed's further debasement of the US dollar.

This company has the additional advantage that it is viewed as a quality stock by some investors who generally don't invest in precious metal stocks since they view silver as a metal with many industrial applications and not a currency.

What do you think about Silver Wheaton, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Owning exceptional stocks is a surefire way to secure your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to find them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!