Ingersoll Rand (IR). This machinery maker stands out because it has few ties to the depressed U.S. car industry. It makes diverse products such as supermarket freezers, road-repair equipment and industrial security systems. Most of its businesses are expanding by double-digit percentages each year, and profits are rising faster than sales.

Ingersoll shares should also benefit from a shift in investor sentiment. As the engine of U.S. growth moves from shopping and homebuilding to business spending on plants and equipment, investors will look more favorably on industrial companies such as Ingersoll (which is incorporated in Bermuda). The stock sells at just 12 times estimated '06 earnings of $3.39 per share. If Ingersoll achieves its goal of delivering steady profit growth of 12% to 15%, its P/E is likely to expand.

Medtronic (MDT). Medtronic made the list for 2005 largely because you could invest in this medical-device powerhouse at a great price. The stock is even cheaper today, selling at 24 times the $2.39 per share that analysts expect Medtronic to earn over the next four quarters.

Look for earnings growth of 20% in the coming year. Art Collins, Medtronic's chief executive officer, says the pipeline of new products is the deepest it's ever been, with exciting developments coming in the treatment of back pain, spinal injuries, diabetes and obesity. Robert Smith, manager of T. Rowe Price Growth Stock fund, calls Medtronic his best health-care idea. He cites Medtronic's wide reach, which is rivaled in health care only by Johnson & Johnson. But the Minneapolis company is one-third J&J's size, so it's capable of sustaining faster growth.

Microsoft (MSFT). Microsoft is no longer the prototypical growth stock. The shares are off 47% from their all-time high, set in late 1999, and spent most of the past year slumbering in the mid $20s. But profits continued to grow as the stock foundered, and Microsoft, at 19 times estimated year-ahead earnings of $1.43 per share, now represents good value. Moreover, its ironclad balance sheet includes $4 per share in cash.

The 13% earnings growth that analysts expect for the coming year would be Microsoft's best showing since 2000. Key new products -- the Xbox 360 game player, the Windows Vista operating system and a new version of Microsoft Office -- are behind the revival. Microsoft also seems free of expensive legal tangles, so it can concentrate on battling its software and Internet rivals.

UPS (UPS). Globalization, outsourcing, online commerce and the whole new economy still depend on shipping stuff in a timely manner. That means there will always be plenty of business for UPS, formerly United Parcel Service. Although UPS still derives most of its revenues from delivering packages in the U.S., its overseas activities are increasing steadily. UPS has been buying foreign freight companies and making them more efficient.

An expanding global economy should keep UPS's airplanes and trucks operating at high capacity. Higher fuel costs aren't a problem because UPS can collect surcharges. Earnings should grow about 13% in 2006, to $3.91 per share. At 19 times earnings, UPS is as cheap, relative to the overall market, as it has been since the company went public in 1999.

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