Zacks Earnings and Margins Strategy Highlights Aspen Insurance Holdings, DSP Group, Petro-Canada, and Thomas & Betts.

CHICAGO -- Earnings are the single most important metric for a company. Combine that with a healthy Net Profit Margin and you find a screen that generated an incredible +103% return in 2003 and +11.1% in 2004. This screen is called the Earnings and Margins Profit Track strategy. Here are four stocks meeting this screen's exclusive criteria as of May 26, 2005: Aspen Insurance Holdings (NYSE:AHL), DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG), Petro-Canada (NYSE:PCZ), and Thomas & Betts (NYSE:TNB). View the entire list of stocks for the Earnings and Margins Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1858

Here are four companies that meet the following Earnings and Margin Profit Track:

Aspen Insurance Holdings (NYSE: AHL) operates with an impressive net margin of 16%. This strong margin has helped the company top analysts' earnings estimates for five straight quarters. Last month, the company exceeded expectations by nine cents with earnings of $1.01 per share. Although the company only showed modest growth of 6% last year, estimates for this year have been revised upwards, making AHL a Zacks #2 Rank stock.

DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSPG) is a highly profitable wireless chipmaker. This company sports a very healthy net margin of 32%. In addition, the company grew profits last year. DSPG is a Zacks Rank #2 stock and has exceeded earnings estimates during each of the past five quarters.

Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) is a large-cap Canadian oil and gas company that exceeded first-quarter earnings estimates by 37 cents per share. This Zacks #1 Rank stock reported profits of $1.75 per share, putting it on pace to easily eclipse last year's 7.2% growth. PCZ is also very profitable with net margins of 13%.

Thomas & Betts (NYSE: TNB) appears poised to build on last year's impressive 127% growth. The company's first-quarter profits of 40 cents were five cents above the consensus estimate and 48% ahead of last year's result. TNB is a Zacks Rank #2 stock because of its ability to top expectations and upward revisions in analysts' estimates. This electrical components and engineered steel structures producer operates with net margins of 6%.

Discover all the current stocks currently on the Earnings and Margin Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1859

About Profit Tracks

What is a "Profit Track"? Each one is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these six unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. In 2004 the Upgrades and Revisions strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +55.7%. The PEG Ratio screen produced +38.9% return in 2004. To see all six strategies along with philosophy, past performance and current stocks, then go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838

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