Companies highlighted in this weekly wrap include Yum! Brands (YUM), Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY), Computer Programs & Systems, Inc. (CPSI), Computer Programs & Systems, Inc. (CPSI) and NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NTLS).

< ?DART(15);?> Yum! Brands (YUM) has been trading higher since it was last featured as a Growth and Income pick. The company has a solid track record and strong fundamentals, including an industry-leading dividend yield of 3%.

Rewarding Shareholders with Solid Income

YUM continues pay shareholder through its share repurchase program and its quarterly dividend. The company is a dividend leader among its industry peers, offering a dividend yield 3% and nearly quadrupling its quarterly dividend since the initiation of dividends in May 2004.

Read our Mar 11, 2009 commentary on YUM.

Last Week's Growth and Income

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NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NTLS) is seeing upbeat forecasts from analysts on solid fourth-quarter and full-year results. The current consensus estimate for 2009 earnings of $1.56 per share is 1% above last month's projection and 11% higher than the level of 2 months ago.

< ?DART(15);?> Company Description

Headquartered in Waynesboro, VA, NTELOS Holdings Corp. is an integrated communications provider. The company provides products and services to customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Maryland and North Carolina, including wireless phone service, local and long distance telephone services, IPTV-based video services as well as data services for internet access and wide area networking.

Higher Forecasts

The company is seeing upbeat forecasts from analysts on solid fourth-quarter and full-year results. The current consensus estimate for 2009 earnings of $1.56 per share is 1% above last month's projection and 11% higher than the level of 2 months ago. The most accurate forecast

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Companies highlighted in this weekly wrap include Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX), American Science & Engineering, Inc. (ASEI), AAON Inc. (AAON), Aaron Rents, Inc. (RNT) and NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NTLS).

< ?DART(15);?> Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) has seen bullish forecasts from Wall Street. Analysts are projecting earnings of $4.92 per share for the fiscal year ending September 2009, an increase of 5 cents over the past 2 months. For the following year, analysts are calling for earnings of $5.42 per share.

The company exceeded analysts' estimates over the past 4 consecutive quarters by an average of 5.4%.

Becton, Dickinson and Company is scheduled to announce fiscal second-quarter results on April 15.

Industry Recognition

BDX recently announced its first-time appearance on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Fortune 500 list of green power purchasers. The company said its purchasing green power

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NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NTLS) recently announced fourth-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share, topping the previous year's 10 cents. The company also declared a quarterly cash dividend of 26 cents per share, which translates into a robust, industry-leading yield of 5.4%.

< ?DART(15);?> Company Description

Headquartered in Waynesboro, VA, NTELOS Holdings Corp. is an integrated communications provider. The company provides products and services to customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Maryland and North Carolina, including wireless phone service, local and long distance telephone services, IPTV-based video services as well as data services for internet access and wide area networking.

Growth in the Fourth Quarter

The company recently announced fourth-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share, topping the previous year's 10 cents. Operating revenues for the quarter totaled $140.6 million, up from the year-prior $127.9 million.

NTLS noted that one of the highlights for the quarter was its launching or

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Companies highlighted in this weekly wrap include Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (SHEN), DeVry, Inc. (>DV), Aaron Rents, Inc. (RNT), American Science & Engineering, Inc. (ASEI) and NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NTLS).

< ?DART(15);?>

Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (SHEN) has, for the most part, traded in line with the broader market since it was last covered as Growth and Income pick in mid-January. The company continues to offer solid fundamentals, including an industry leading dividend yield and very little debt.

Strong Fundamentals

Shenandoah's dividend yield of 1.2% is ahead of the industry average as most of the company's peers pay no income.

The company has a solid balance sheet, showing a low debt to equity of 8%.

The company's earnings per share are expected to grow by 14% over the next 3 – 5 years, compared to the industry average of 10%.

Growth in the Third Quarter

In

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NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NTLS) offer a solid track record of exceeding analyst expectations for earnings and a robust dividend yield of 4.4%. The company also came in ahead of the Dow ($DJI), S&P 500 (SPX) and NASDAQ (COMP) for the 2008 year.

< ?DART(15);?> Company Description

Headquartered in Waynesboro, VA, NTELOS Holdings Corp. is an integrated communications provider. The company provides products and services to customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Maryland and North Carolina, including wireless phone service, local and long distance telephone services, IPTV-based video services as well as data services for internet access and wide area networking.

Growth in the Third Quarter

In early November, the company announced third-quarter earnings per share of 31 cents, which soared past the year-prior 18 cents and topped the consensus estimate by 7%.

NTLS has a solid track record of exceeding analyst expectations for earnings and outperformed the

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Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc (ALXA) American River Bankshares (AMRB) Anesiva Inc (ANSV) Aon Corp (AOC) Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc (ARNA) Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc (ARIA) Array BioPharma Inc (ARRY) athenahealth Inc (ATHN) Barloworld Ltd (BRRAY) Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc (BRLI) British Airways plc (BAIRY) CARBO Ceramics Inc (CRR) Cell Therapeutics Inc (CTIC) Chemed Corp (CHE) Corinthian Colleges Inc (COCO) Danaos Corp (DAC) Dialysis Corporation of America (DCAI) Diamond Mgt & Technology Consultants In (DTPI) Discovery Communications Inc (DISCB) DXP Enterprises Inc (DXPE) EarthLink Inc (ELNK) eDiets.com Inc (DIET) Elbit Systems Ltd (ESLT) Endo Pharmaceuticals (ENDP) Enterprise GP Holdings LP (EPE) ev3 Inc (EVVV) FiberTower Corp (FTWR) Flanders Corp (FLDR) GTx Inc ...