Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, optical networking specialist Infinera (Nasdaq: INFN) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Infinera facts

Headquarters (Founded) Allentown, Pa. (2000)
Market Cap $833.1 million
Industry Communications equipment
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $427.4 million
Management

CEO Thomas Fallon

Co-Founder/Chief Technology Officer Drew Perkins
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) (1%)
Cash/Debt $272.9 million / $0
Competitors Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)
Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO)
Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN)

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

On CAPS, 98% of the 1,338 members who have rated Infinera believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include irishred1 and babre78.

Just last month, irishred1 decided to pounce on Infinera's recent plunge: "[D]ipping in this one again -- solid quarterly results, though future is weak. [S]till a growth story for the long haul."

In fact, Infinera's shares were crushed 35% after issuing downside guidance two weeks ago; they have since recovered just a small amount. But as my fellow Fool Anders Bylund noted, "American tier 1 network providers Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T) have yet to subscribe to Infinera's platform," so there's still plenty of long-term potential left in the stock.

Despite the weak near-term outlook, small-fry Infinera is even expected to grow earnings at a faster clip (20% per annum) than much larger rivals Alcatel (5%), Cisco (12.5%), and Ciena (13.7%) over the next five years.

CAPS member babre78 elaborates:

Few will disagree that mobile internet is going to be huge. What do all these smart phones need in order for them to work? Bandwidth is what they need. I believe that optical networking is going to be the best way to provide that bandwidth. I also believe that Infinera is going to be a leader in the optical networking space via their [photonic integrated circuits].

What do you think about Infinera, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Owning exceptional stocks is a surefire way to secure your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to find them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!