Techne Corp

Companies highlighted in this weekly wrap include Techne Corp. (TECH), American Science & Engineering (ASEI), Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (CHD), General Dynamics Corp. (GD) and Abbott Laboratories (ABT).

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Techne Corp. (TECH), which continues to sport a Zacks #1 Rank (“strong buy”), has seen its share price increase since it was last featured as a Growth and Income play. Earnings estimates are also on the rise as analysts forecast year-over-year growth of 11%.

Earnings estimates for the year ending June 2009 are at $2.93 per share, above the two months-ago level of $2.90.

TECH is trading 5% higher than it was when featured in mid-November.

The company sports a strong balance sheet with no debt. TECH’s return on equity (ROE) of 23% is ahead of the industry average. The company’s dividend yield of 1.6 also stands high above the industry average.

Read our Nov 20, 2008 analysis on TECH.

Last Week's Growth and Income Zacks Rank Buy Stocks

American Science & Engineering (ASEI) shares received a nice boost thanks to the company’s strong second quarter. Lately, the company has seen analysts hike estimates, while its shares trade well ahead of the Dow Jones ($DJI), S&P 500 (SPX) and NASDAQ Composite (COMP). Read the full analysis on ASEI.

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (CHD.) has been trading ahead of the Dow Jones ($DJI), S&P 500 (SPX) and NASDAQ Composite (COMP) both over short- and long-term periods. Read the full analysis on CHD.

General Dynamics Corp. (GD) reported third-quarter results in late October. Earnings per share of $1.59 topped the year-prior $1.34 and exceeded analyst estimates by 7%. Revenues jumped 4.5% to $7.1 billion on a year-over-year basis. Read the full analysis on GD.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) has been outpacing the Dow Jones ($DJI), S&P 500 (SPX) and NASDAQ Composite (COMP) lately. The company offers a dividend yield of 2.75%, which is well above the industry average. Read the full analysis on ABT.

Read the full analyst report on TECH