Zacks Upgrades and Revisions Strategy Highlights: Administaff, Ceradyne, McDermott International and Middleby Corp.

CHICAGO -- Earnings estimate revisions are the most powerful force impacting stock prices. Couple that with the proven benefits of upgrades in ratings from brokerage firms and you have a strategy that delivered a +16.5% return in the first five months of 2006. Four stocks meeting this screen's exclusive criteria are: Administaff Inc. (NYSE: ASF), Ceradyne Inc. (Nasdaq: CRDN), McDermott International Inc. (NYSE: MDR) and Middleby Corp. (Nasdaq: MIDD). View the entire list of stocks for the Upgrades and Revisions Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1844

Here are details on four companies currently identified by the Upgrades and Revisions Profit Track:

Administaff Inc. (NYSE: ASF) sports earnings per share growth of 60% over the past five years. In early November, the company announced third-quarter earnings of 43 cents per share, the highest quarterly earnings in the company's history. ASF said high demand for its services from a growing target market and the company's consistently outstanding performance provide a promising outlook for growth and profitability in 2007 and beyond.

Ceradyne Inc. (Nasdaq: CRDN) put together a five-year growth track record of 110%. The company reported third-quarter earnings of $1.34 per share in early November. The result surged past the previous year's 53 cents and outpaced the consensus estimate by nearly 18%. Sales for third quarter climbed to a record $185.8 million from $94.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

McDermott International Inc. (NYSE: MDR) satisfies the criteria for this Profit Track as evidenced by its earnings per share growth of 57% over the past five years. The company posted third-quarter earnings of 89 cents per share in early November. The result surpassed last year's 53 cents and jumped ahead of analysts' expectations by approximately 48%. The company stated that whether it's coal-fired power, oil & gas infrastructure or nuclear activities, the energy markets that McDermott serves continue to be robust.

Middleby Corp. (Nasdaq: MIDD), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, produced earnings per share growth of 83% over the past five years. In early November, the company released financial results for the third quarter. Earnings per share were above Wall Street estimates by almost 12% and third-quarter earnings were ahead of the year-prior total. MIDD noted that it continued to make progress at its newly acquired Alkar Rapidpak business unit, which contributed favorably to the quarter.

Discover all the current stocks currently on the Upgrades and Revisions Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1869

About Profit Tracks

What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track 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 nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. For the first five months of 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +22.2% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +18.6% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838

All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research. If you like this screening strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard free trial offer and our new special report "Top 10 Stock Screening Strategies" at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2156

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