Top Five All-Around Value Stocks

Each business day, 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 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.

Hess (HES Quote - Cramer on HES - Stock Picks) explores for, produces, purchases, transports and sells crude oil and natural gas. The company conducts exploration and production activities in Algeria, Denmark, Norway, Malaysia, the U.K. and the U.S. The company also manufactures, purchases, trades and markets refined petroleum and other energy products.

We have rated Hess a buy since August 2004. The company displayed excellent performance in the fourth quarter of 2007 on the back of rising production and pricing trends because of successful exploration and development activities. Revenue increased 32% year over year to $9.46 billion. Net income increased 42%, mainly because of lower operating costs and lower taxes. We believe Hess can leverage its strong fundamentals to continue to benefit from the current pricing trend.

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