Based on the aggregated intelligence of 145,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, book retailer Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) has received a distressing two-star ranking.

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

Barnes & Noble facts

Headquarters (Founded)

New York City (1986)

Market Cap

$1.1 billion

Industry

Specialty retail

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$5 billion

Management

CEO Stephen Riggio (since 2002)
CFO Joseph Lombardi (since 2003)

Compound Annual Revenue and Net Income Growth (Over Past 3 Years)

(0.7%) and (21.6%)

1-Year Return

26.4%

Cash / Debt

$96 million / $325 million

Competitors

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Borders Group (NYSE:BGP)

CAPS Members Bearish on BKS Also Bearish on

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

CAPS Members Bullish on BKS Also Bullish on

Ford (NYSE:F)
Citigroup (NYSE:C)

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

On CAPS, 28% of the 350 members who have rated Barnes & Noble believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include lordmorgul and All-Star TMFMuse, who is ranked in the top 15% of our community.

Last year, lordmorgul helped investors read the situation: "Lots of pressure from purely online and used book retailers, particularly Amazon, is really eating into the market here. Until people feel better about buying books at higher price intentionally [Barnes & Noble] is stagnant."

In a more recent pitch, TMFMuse also advised Fools to close the book on Barnes & Noble:

There's not much future for the best-seller bookstore. Online rules on prices and convenience, while bricks-n-mortars fade. [Barnes & Noble] is also late to the game on e-books and readers. There's a chance they could turn things around and find a niche (at least they're not Borders), but odds seem rather bleak.

What do you think about Barnes & Noble, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Staying away from dangerous stocks is crucial to securing your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to flag them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!