I think it all depends on the person doing the evaluation and the exact model of bike. I've ridden plenty of lousy steel bikes to know that steel isn't a guarantee for anything. Though I have ridden two or three really great steel bikes. Still frame material is the least important. What's important is that the design and use of any material take advantage of the qualities and short comings of that material.
One nit pick might be on the environmental side....
Aluminum takes a pretty big hit for pollution when first mined both for water use and pollution while refining as well as electrical demands to smelt initially. And it seems that few people ever scrap their bikes so that any recycling can actually be done with them. Apparently they just show up on eBay and Craigslist forever no matter what material they are made from.