Top 5 Mid-Caps for Feb. 5

Each business day, TheStreet.com Ratings TheStreet.com Ratings compiles a list of the top five stocks in one of five categories -- fast-growth, all-around value, large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap -- based on data from the close of the previous trading session. Today we focus on mid-caps.

These are stocks of companies that have market capitalizations of between $500 million and $10 billion that 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.

DeVry(DV Quote) is an international higher education company that operates DeVry University, Ross University, Chamberlin College of Nursing and Becker Professional Review. The company has been rated a buy since January 2007. DeVry's strengths can be seen in a variety of areas, such as its impressive record of earnings-per-share growth, robust revenue growth, return on equity, and largely solid financial position. Solid stock price performance also contributes to the buy rating.

The company announced on Jan. 27 that its revenues rose 35% year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2009, helped by increased revenue across segments and the acquisition of U.S. Education, which is the parent company of Apollo College and Western Career College. Revenue growth appears to have trickled down to the bottom line, as DeVry reported EPS improvement of 20.4%. Higher enrollment numbers also helped boost earnings. Net income also increased, rising to $42.9 million from $35.8 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2008. Return on equity, which improved slightly when compared to the same quarter a year ago, can be seen as a modest strength for the organization. In addition, a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18 indicates that DeVry has successfully managed its debt levels.