Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, regional bank First Niagara Financial Group (Nasdaq: FNFG) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

First Niagara facts

Headquarters (Founded) Buffalo, N.Y. (1870)
Market Cap $3.0 billion
Industry Regional banks
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $1.1 billion
Management CEO John Koelmel (since 2006)
CFO Gregory Norwood (since 2011)
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) 4.7%
Dividend Yield 3.3%
Competitors Citizens Financial Group
HSBC USA
M&T Bank

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 91% of the 244 members who have rated First Niagara believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.  

Just last month, one of those Fools, All-Star InvestWhatWorks, tapped the stock as a bankable opportunity:

First Niagara Financial Group is quickly becoming a regional-baking powerhouse in the Northeastern United States. ...

In 2011, HSBC was looking to divest itself of its non-core assets. Among those assets was 195-branches located in upstate-New York and Connecticut, which First Niagara agreed to acquire. This deal further expands First Niagara's presence in the US Northeast.

All of the potential-negatives are now in the past for First Niagara. Future acquisitions of the size of the HSBC-deal are very unlikely for the foreseeable future. The dividend was cut in December 2011 to a much more manageable amount. And the bank completed a stock offering; the funds from the offering being used to pay the HSBC-branch acquisition. With all those negatives now behind First Niagara, I pick First Niagara to outperform from this point forward.

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