Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, meat and food products producer Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Hormel facts

Headquarters (Founded)

Austin, Minn. (1891)

Market Cap

$7.58 billion

Industry

Packaged foods and meats

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$7.67 billion

Management

Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Ettinger (since 2006)

CFO Jody Feragen (since 2007)

Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)

16.6%

Cash/Debt

$964.7 million / $250 million

Dividend Yield

1.8%

Competitors

ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG)

Kraft (NYSE: KFT)

Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN)

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

On CAPS, 95% of the 266 members who have rated Hormel believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include emhutchins and Oatflake.

Late last year , emhutchins listed a few of Hormel's positives: "Dividends, well-managed supply chain and international breadth."

Over the past three years, in fact, Hormel has grown its dividend at a solid rate of 11.5% annually. That's faster than rivals like ConAgra (5.1%), Kraft (3.1%), and Tyson (0%).

CAPS member Oatflake elaborates on the Hormel bull case:

I'm a bit late tot the party here on Hormel, but I do think they have shown some impressive growth for a food company that is probably best known for canned meat and chili products. Sometimes having great products is enough, but other times having good products and a well run company is better. This is a longer term play, and I'm hedging my bets here with another pick by competitor Con-Agra. People still love packaged foods.

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