(FORTUNE Magazine) – Blue chip stocks with generous yields reward shareholders handsomely over the long run. To identify the best, we screened for companies whose annual earnings had grown faster than the S&P 500's 4% average over the past five years, and are projected to grow faster than the index's 6% average over the next three to five years. Since the best-performing firms typically trade at a slight premium, we tolerated trailing P/E ratios that are higher than the S&P 500's current average of 19. But we demanded that they all be well below 27, the highest average P/E among the S&P 500's top 20 performers over the past 50 years. And we eliminated stocks whose current dividend yields are below the S&P 500 average of 1.8%. --D.S.

Our Picks

June 24, 2005. Based on the previous 12-months' reported earnings. Wall Street estimates for the next three to five years.

FORTUNE TABLE / SOURCE: ZACKS INVESTMENT RESEARCH