Raytheon Co.

Companies highlighted in this weekly wrap include Raytheon Co. (RTN - Analyst Report), Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (SHEN - Snapshot Report), DeVry, Inc. (DV - Analyst Report) and Techne Corp. (TECH - Snapshot Report).

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Raytheon Co. (RTN - Analyst Report) is trading at a higher share price than it was when the company was last featured as a Growth and Income pick in late November, outpacing the Dow Jones ($DJI), S&P 500 (SPX) and NASDAQ (COMP) over that time frame.

Stable Estimate Revisions

Wall Street earnings estimates for 2009 have been holding steady over the past 2 months at about $4.68 per share. This estimate translates into earnings growth of 16% in comparison to the 2008 earnings estimate of $4.04 per share.

The most accurate expectation for 2009 earnings is a more bullish $4.80 per share. Three months ago, analysts had 2009 earnings projections pegged at $4.45 per share.

RTN Continues to Outpace the Industry in Dividend Payments and Other Areas

On Dec 10, Raytheon declared a quarterly cash dividend of 28 cents per share. The company noted that the dividend is payable on Jan 30, 2009 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Jan 2, 2009. The dividend translates into a yield of 2.3%, which is well ahead of the industry average as most of RTN’s peers offer no income.

The company’s return on equity (ROE) of 13% also tops the industry average of 7%. Likewise, RTN’s net margin level of 8% beats the industry average of 5.5%.

Read our Nov 28, 2008 analysis on RTN.

Also take a look at a recent Zacks Equity Research report on RTN.

Last Week's Growth and Income Zacks Rank Buy Stocks

Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (SHEN - Snapshot Report) is seeing bullish forecasts for the new year. Analyst estimates for 2009 earnings of $1.19 per share were increased by 16% over the past 60 days. Read the full analysis on SHEN.

DeVry, Inc. (DV - Analyst Report), which recently announced fall enrollment increases, continues to see higher earnings estimates from analysts. Wall Street is calling for earnings of $2.22 per share for the year ending June 2009. Three months ago, the earnings projection was at $2.17. Read the full analysis on DV.

Techne Corp. (TECH - Snapshot Report) has seen upward estimate revisions from Wall Street. For the year ending June 2009, Analyst forecasts of $2.93 per share were increased from $2.89 over the past 60 days. Read the full analysis on TECH.

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