Based on the aggregated intelligence of 110,000 investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, HDFC Bank (NYSE:HDB) has earned a coveted five-star ranking. Our data has shown that five-star stocks outperform the market by a significant margin; conversely, one-star stocks have woefully lagged the market average.

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

HDFC Bank stats:

Headquarters (Founded) Mumbai, India (1994)

Market Cap

$8.71 billion

Industry

Diversified Banks

TTM Revenue

$1.41 billion

Management

Managing Director Aditya Puri (since 1994);
Head of Operations A. Rajan

Return on Equity (avg. last three years)

18.4%

CAPS players bullish on HDB also bullish on

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
ICICI Bank (NYSE:IBN)
Tata Motors (NYSE:TTM)

CAPS players bearish on HDB also bearish on

Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM)
Circuit City Stores (NYSE:CC)
XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:XMSR)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, fully 331 of 342 of the All-Star players who have rated HDFC Bank -- some 97% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These All-Star bulls include my Foolish colleague Tim Hanson (a.k.a. TMFMmbop) and ddberg, both of whom are ranked in the top 5% of our community.

In August 2007, Tim explained that HDFC Bank is an "Indian bank that controls the tier 2 and rural markets where capital is moving. ... Also very business-focused, so should benefit from all types of growth in the Indian economy."

A more recent pitch from ddberg in March of this year follows that bullish line of thinking:

Middle class expanding exponentially in India, and first-time homeowners driving enormous real estate boom. 30% down payment required for mortgage loans, meaning a lot of the "subprime" type borrowers are eliminated from the picture (providing reduced risk for lenders). Average time it takes for an Indian family to save enough to buy a house is now down to 3 years, where it used to be 20 years. HDFC has been capitalizing on these trends and will continue to do so.

What do you think about HDFC Bank, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 110,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.