There are many good reasons for researching investment opportunities in a certain geographic area. Today, it's bienvenidos a Miami, where the sun beats down on South Beach and the nightlife has no equal.

If you happen to live in South Florida, you already have a few advantages when it comes to evaluating the local market, such as access to local news sources and the word on the street, and a high probability of being a customer or employee of these companies. And if you're not a local resident, you might still want to know whether the weather matches the business climate -- a hot area could be chock-full of undiscovered treasures on their way to greatness.

Without further ado, here are the largest companies headquartered in Miami:

Company

Market Cap (millions)

CAPS Rating

Bulls/Bears

Carnival (NYSE:CCL)

$31,400

Three stars

36/11

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL)

$9,170

Four stars

28/2

Lennar (NYSE:LEN)

$7,970

One star

72/49

Ryder System (NYSE:R)

$3,260

N/A

7/1

Burger King (NYSE:BKC)

$2,360

One star

21/26


Ouch. Our Motley Fool CAPS community doesn't seem to hold Biscayne Boulevard in very high regard. Homebuilder Lennar is suffering under the deflation of the nationwide housing bubble, so that one-star rating makes sense. When it comes to the cruise lines, the community sentiment is that retiring baby boomers like to go on cruises, but that Carnival is overvalued today. And here's what superstar CAPS player Daniel Rubin (TMF BreakerDan) says about Burger King:

"Classic marketing bungle -- the King CGI's into real football games and the like was supercool and the office guys were hilarious -- but none of that [stuff] did anything to make anyone on earth want to eat their food."

What's more shocking is the lack of coverage for Ryder. It produced $5.7 billion in sales for fiscal 2005, and we all know the company's yellow trucks, but they have raced below the radar of our investors -- so far. You can help us fix that by adding your own insights: just click here.

It looks like Miami isn't so hot after all. Even if you add in a few major employers in the city, such as Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) or The McClatchy Corporation (NYSE:MNI) (the publisher behind the Miami Herald), well, none of those stocks carry more than a two-star CAPS rating, either.

Do you agree? Disagree? Feel free to weigh in on the Miami market -- or on any stocks at all, really -- by joining Motley Fool CAPS and blasting away with your ratings and commentary pitches. And if Miami isn't your 'hood, maybe we'll come around where you live the next time.

Further Foolishness:

Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here, but he did write this article on location. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like. Foolish disclosure is always red-hot.