Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, three-dimensional printer maker 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at 3D Systems' business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

3D Systems facts

Headquarters (founded) Rock Hill, S.C. (1986)
Market Cap $1.6 billion
Industry Computer hardware
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $260.5 million
Management CEO Abraham Reichental
Founder/Chief Technology Officer Dr. Charles Hull
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) 12%
Cash / Debt $60.0 million / $139.7 million
Competitors Dassault Systemes
Delcam
Stratasys

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

On CAPS, 96% of the 778 members who have rated 3D Systems believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

A couple of months ago, one of those Fools, hecticelectron, tapped 3D Systems as a particularly potent growth opportunity:

Rapid prototyping is already a boon for industrial design. Long term, as machines become smaller and cheaper, 3-D printing has the potential to be a revolution as big as desktop publishing was in the '80s and '90s. 3-D Systems is in a good position to ride that wave.

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Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the new TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.