Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, industrial power conversion products Advanced Energy Industries (Nasdaq: AEIS) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Advanced Energy facts

Headquarters (founded) Fort Collins, Colo. (1981)
Market Cap $638.3 million
Industry Semiconductor equipment
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $527.4 million
Management

CEO Dr. Hans-Georg Betz (since 2005)

COO Yuval Wasserman (since 2009)
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) (4%)
Cash/Debt $140 million / $0
Competitors

Power-One (Nasdaq: PWER)

Siemens (NYSE: SI)

STEC (Nasdaq: STEC)

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

On CAPS, 95% of the 231 members who have rated Advanced Energy believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include DolonAltekar and Notwage.

Two months ago, DolonAltekar tapped Advanced Energy as a particularly potent pick: "Great company moving into a growing industry. Good cash flow, excellent growth."

Currently, Advanced Energy even sports a cheapish P/E of 7.6. That represents a discount to listed competitors such as Power-One (8.0), Siemens (15.3), and STEC (15.8).

CAPS member Notwage offered a balanced take on the stock:

PROS
- Solid fundamentals.
- Great industry prospects, continued accelerating growth in technology.
- Great discount to fair value.
- Solid past growth in sales, margins, EPS.
- Slower but strong growth prospects.

CONS
- Cyclical semiconductor industry is at the top today with strong sales and earnings. 2012 will likely see a pullback.

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