Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, alternative asset manager Blackstone Group (BX) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Blackstone facts

Headquarters (founded)

New York (1985)

Market Cap

$11.5 billion

Industry

Asset management

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$4.2 billion

Management

Co-Founder/Chairman/CEO Stephen Schwarzman
President/COO Hamilton James

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

1.6%

Dividend Yield

5.9%

Competitors

Bain Capital
The Carlyle Group
KKR & Co

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 85% of the 1,121 members who have rated Blackstone believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.   

Just yesterday, one of those Fools, djohn1969, succinctly summed up the Blackstone bull case for our community:

I like Blackstone Group a lot as a real estate recovery play, although there are many other things I like about the company as well. According to Bloomberg, Blackstone Group is the largest U.S. private real estate owner. Especially now that all the home builders have already run up, it makes sense to me to invest in the top owner of homes, rather than just a builder.

I've been watching and wanting to buy Blackstone for a while, but was turned off by the involvement in a potential Dell deal. Now that Blackstone has pulled out of that mess, I believe now is the perfect time to get in on Blackstone. I also like how Blackstone handled the SeaWorld IPO and the fact that they will continue to make money on that deal going forward. And, that's not to mention that Blackstone is likely to be a huge beneficiary as the overall M&A market continues to pick up momentum.

I consider Blackstone Group to be a very strong long-term holding with a great yield (~6%).