Unique services give these five an edge

Article Excerpt

The recession has prompted most businesses to put off buying new equipment and lower their spending on certain services. That has hurt the earnings of these five companies, which sell specialized products and services to corporate clients. But since these products and services help businesses cut costs, their long-term prospects remain bright. We see all but one as buys. XEROX CORP. $8.72 (New York symbol XRX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 869.1 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; WSSF Rating: Average) makes copiers, laser printers and other high-end publishing equipment. The company spends about 5% of its revenue on research. Over the past few years, this has let it develop new colour printers that have helped its customers cut their paper use. It has also produced other innovations, such as its proprietary solid-ink technology, which is less expensive on a per-page basis than traditional ink cartridges. The recession weighed on Xerox’s revenue and earnings in the latest…