Top Five All-Around Value Stocks

Each week, TheStreet.com Ratings compiles a list of the top five stocks in five categories -- fast-growth, all-around value, large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap -- and publishes these lists in the Ratings section of our Web site.

This list was last updated Nov. 23, and it is based on data from the close of the previous trading session. Today, all-around-value stocks are in the spotlight. These are stocks of companies that meet a number of criteria, including annual revenue of more than $500 million, lower-than-average valuations such as a price-to-sales ratio of less than 2, and leverage that is less than 49% of total capital.

In addition, they must rank near the top of all stocks rated by our proprietary quantitative model, which looks at more than 60 factors. The stocks must also be followed by at least one financial analyst who posts estimates on the Institutional Brokers' Estimate System. They are ordered by their potential to appreciate.

Note that no provision is made for off-balance-sheet assets such as unrealized appreciation/depreciation of investments, market value of real estate or contingent liabilities that might affect book value. This could be material for some companies with large underfunded pension plans.

L-3 Communications Holdings(LLL), a military-equipment company, has been rated a buy since October 2005.

Third-quarter net income rose 21% over a year ago to $199 million, or $1.56 a share. Revenue increased by 11.1% to $3.45 billion during the same period, outpacing the industry average of 8.5%. L-3's earnings per share grew by 19.1% and the company's stable EPS growth over the past year indicates that it has sound management over its earnings and share float. Its net operating cash flow rose 24.41% to $324.10 million during the third quarter compared with the same period last year.

Encouraged by a strong performance during the first nine months of 2007, a healthy backlog position and a favorable industry outlook, L-3 Communications raised fiscal 2007 guidance to be in the range of $5.86 to $5.90 a share, up from an earlier view of $5.72 to $5.82 share. The company said it expects 2008 earnings to be within the range of Wall Street's expectations. Though the company's stock price has risen in the last 12 months, it should continue to move higher.