Based on the aggregated intelligence of 125,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Russian telecom provider Vimpel-Communications (NYSE:VIP) has earned a coveted four-star ranking. While five-star stocks have been the best performers, our data has shown that four-star stocks still outshine the market by a significant margin and shouldn't be taken lightly; conversely, one-star stocks woefully lag the market average.

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

VimpelCom facts

Headquarters (founded)

Moscow, Russia (1992)

Market Cap

$6.81 billion

Industry

Wireless communications

TTM Revenue

$9.57 billion

Management

CEO Alexander Izosimov (since 2003)

CFO Elena Shmatova (since 2003)

Return on Equity (average, last three years)

28.7%

Dividend Yield

6.7%

Competitors

Mobile Telesystems (NYSE:MBT),

Rostelecom (NYSE:ROS)

CAPS members bullish on VIP also bullish on:

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL),

Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

CAPS members bearish on VIP also bearish on:

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL),

Citigroup (NYSE:C)

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

Over on CAPS, 212 of the 219 All-Star members who have rated VimpelCom -- or 97% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include mrindependent and brightsideLP, both of whom are ranked in the top 2% of our community.

Last week, mrindependent wrote that VimpelCom's "earnings should be relatively stable because its services are essential to its customers. Phone service is not a discretionary expenditure. Last but not least, the company's management team is first rate."

In a pitch from one week earlier, brightsideLP shares that bullish attitude and highlights VimpelCom's ideal competitive position:

Russian Telco Dual-opoly. [VimpelCom] acquired Golden Telecom and now has more to offer clients than [Mobile TeleSystems]. Golden owned the entire fiber backbone throughout the wealthy parts of former Russia. (Moscow - Stalingrad - the fiber in the ground is owned by [VimpelCom] now)

[VimpelCom] can offer the 4- package of home phone, cell phone, Internet, and Cable because of this acquisition. [Mobile TeleSystems] is still a cell phone operator.

[VimpelCom] will continue to steal market share and become the larger of the two dominant telco companies in Eastern Europe.

What do you think about VimpelCom, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.

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