Based on the aggregated intelligence of 130,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, oil and gas driller Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Patterson-UTI facts

Headquarters (founded)

Houston (1978)

Market Cap

$1.65 billion

Industry

Oil and gas drilling

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$2.21 billion

Management

CEO Douglas Wall (since 2007)
CFO John Vollmer III (since 2005)

Return on Equity (average last three years)

29.5%

Dividend Yield

2.1%

Competitors

Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR)
Precision Drilling Trust (NYSE:PDS)

CAPS members bullish on PTEN also bullish on

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK)
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

CAPS members bearish on PTEN also bearish on

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL)
Rowan Companies (NYSE:RDC)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS.

Over on CAPS, some 95% of the 256 All-Star members who have rated Patterson-UTI believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include wildbill40 and SideShowMel0329, both of whom are ranked in the top 15% of our community.

Late last month, wildbill40 wrote about Patterson-UTI:

It is in a competitive industry with excess capacity and low energy prices, but management has outperformed in the past.
Strong balance sheet with 2.7B in assets vs. .6B in liabilities.
As the dollar weakens, energy produced here will increase in value.

In a more recent pitch from two days ago, SideShowMel0329 follows that energetic line of thinking:

One of the best oil and natural gas producers in America. I see the demand for both increasing as we come out of the recession, and i think the U.S. will start to look inward for its oil/gas. Good dividend, great current ratio, great P/B (lots of cash, no debt). This is a company you want to own as long as we're still using oil and natural gas.

What do you think about Patterson-UTI, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 130,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.