Lance, Pegasystems: Top 5 Mid-Cap Stocks

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- The following mid-cap companies have market values between $500 million and $10 billion and "buy" ratings from our quantitative model, which considers more than 60 factors. They're ordered by their potential to appreciate, starting with the company with the best growth prospects.

Lance(LNCE Quote) makes snack foods, including Cape Cod potato chips and Archway cookies.

The numbers: Second-quarter net income more than tripled to $9.5 million, or 30 cents a share, as revenue grew 11% to $237 million. Lance's gross margin jumped from 41% to 44%, and its operating margin rose from 3% to 7%. A quick ratio of 1.1 indicates adequate liquidity. A debt-to-equity ratio of 0.4 demonstrates conservative leverage.

The stock: Lance has advanced 19% this year, beating the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index. The stock trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 29, a premium to the market and packaged food peers. The shares pay a 2.4% dividend yield.

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