Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Internet content delivery specialist Akamai Technologies (Nasdaq: AKAM) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Akamai facts

Headquarters (founded)

Cambridge, Mass. (1998)

Market Cap

$7.04 billion

Industry

Internet software and services

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$1.02 billion

Management

CEO Paul Sagan (since 2005)

CFO J.D. Sherman (since 2006)

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

9.1%

Cash/Debt

$606.6 million / $0

Competitors

AT&T (NYSE: T)

Limelight Networks (Nasdaq: LLNW)

Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq: LVLT)

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

On CAPS, 96% of the 3,277 members who have rated Akamai believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include slaww and All-Star TSIF, who is ranked in the top 0.2% of our community.

A couple of months ago, slaww touched on the tailwinds working in Akamai's favor:

Content delivery will become increasingly important from the looks of the way the internet is heading. There is plenty of room for expansion in the industry, and there will be more and more needs for lightening up server loads from bandwidth intensive media and applications.

Over the next five years, in fact, Akamai is expected to grow its bottom line at a solid rate of 17.2% annually. That's faster than rivals AT&T (4.5%), Limelight (14%), and Level 3 (2.8%).

CAPS member TSIF elaborates on Akamai as a bargain opportunity:

Renewals also appear to be down and increased competition will most likely affect margins. Akamai, however does have a backlog and is signing up new customers, including the all powerful Netflix and Rackspace Holdings. While competition may be increasing, so is the need for network connectivity as more company's reach for "the Cloud". ... While high growth investors may see the opportunity diminishing for Akamai, high value investors should fill the gap.

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