Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, speech software specialist Nuance Communications (Nasdaq: NUAN) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Nuance facts

Headquarters (Founded) Burlington, Mass. (1992)
Market Cap $4.8 billion
Industry Application software
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $1.07 billion
Management CEO Paul Ricci (since 2000)
CFO Thomas Beaudoin (since 2008)
Return on Capital (Average, Past 3 Years) 1.3%
Cash/Debt $492.1 million / $860.1 million
Competitors IBM (NYSE: IBM)
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT)
Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE)

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

On CAPS, 96% of the 5,604 members who have rated Nuance believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include BossMan2010 and revjimbo.

Just last month, BossMan2010 voiced a rather bullish opinion of Nuance: "Their voice recognition works extremely well and the markets for their products are extensive. I see a lot of future growth."

While some pretty big gorillas have recently jumped into the exciting world of speech-recognition technology, Nuance, for now at least, remains one of the clear leaders in the space. And with a slightly lower PEG ratio (0.8) than Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) (0.9), IBM (1.0), Microsoft (0.9), and Adobe (1.1) -- all of which continue to up their speech-based services -- Nuance might be a reasonably priced bet, as well.

CAPS member revjimbo expands on the bull case:

Our whole world is fast becoming voice activated. Convenience and security will rule the day (as it already does). I anticipate a whole new language to develop, commands, retractions, etc. "call home, change lanes, pay bill, find parking space." Pressing buttons will go the way of the phone dial. ... [Nuance] therefore will get sucked up and expanded any minute; the question is by who?

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