Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, aluminum giant Alcoa (NYSE: AA) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Alcoa facts

Headquarters (Founded) New York (1888)
Market Cap $15.7 billion
Industry Aluminum
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $20.79 billion
Management

CEO Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld (since 2008)

CFO Charles McLane (since 2007)
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) (0.2%)
Cash/Debt $888 million / $9.3 billion
Competitors

Aluminum Corp. of China (NYSE: ACH)

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP)

Vale (NYSE: VALE)


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

On CAPS, 93% of the 3,126 members who have rated Alcoa believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include wil3714 and All-Star mrindependent, who is ranked in the top 2% of our community.

Late last month, wil3714 touched on the positive trend working in Alcoa's favor: "Auto sales globally are reserving, more cars for developing nations and raising populations means more aluminum will be consumed giving Alcoa depleted inventories in long-run."

Alcoa's leading position in the aluminum industry and cheapish valuation continue to make it a highly rated play on the global recovery. Currently, Alcoa even trades at a price-to-cash flow (7.7) discount to listed rivals Aluminum Corp. of China (16.8), BHP (14.5), Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO) (10.5), and Vale (8.5).

Two weeks ago, CAPS All-Star mrindependent followed the lead of Mad Money-man Jim Cramer and got bullish on Alcoa:

This stock is one of five outperform votes I am making from Cramer's list of 10 best Dow stocks for 2011. Cramer says Alcoa is a buyout candidate. Even if the stock does not get bought out, the company will benefit from strong demand from aluminum and inflationary pressures from worldwide money printing. Valuation looks attractive at 0.93 times book value.

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