Top 5 Mid-Cap Stocks: Landauer, Strayer

TSC Ratings provides exclusive stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations using proprietary tools. Our "safety first" approach aims to reduce risk while achieving performance on a total return basis.

The following mid-cap companies have market values of $500 million to $10 billion and receive "buy" ratings from our proprietary quantitative model, which considers more than 60 factors. The stocks are ordered by their potential to appreciate.

Landauer(LDR Quote) offers personnel radiation monitoring to measure the dosage of X-rays, gamma radiation and other penetrating ionizing radiation.

The numbers: Fiscal second-quarter revenue increased 5% to $25 million as net income and earnings per share fell 16% to $5.4 million and 58 cents, respectively. Operating margin remained steady 42% and net margin fell to 22%. The company has no debt or interest expenses, and a quick ratio of 1.9 indicates ample liquidity.

The stock: Landauer has fallen 10% in 2009, underperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. The stock offers a 3.2% dividend yield and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio around 27.

New Jersey Resources(NJR Quote) is an energy-services company that provides retail and wholesale energy services to customers in New Jersey and other states from the Gulf Coast to New England and Canada.

The numbers: Fiscal second-quarter revenue declined 20% to $938 million as net income and earnings per share surged 183% to $36 million and 83 cents, respectively. Margins improved a bit during the quarter as operating margin inched up to 6.2% and net margin climbed to 3.8%. The debt-to-equity ratio remained low at 0.6, but a quick ratio of 0.4 indicates a weak cash position.

The stock: New Jersey Resources has fallen 4% in 2009, in line with the Dow. The stock trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14 and offers an attractive 3.3% dividend yield.