(MONEY Magazine) – Like gate-crashers at a social register tea party, a raft of formerly small companies have recently made headlines by elbowing their way into the ranks of America's largest corporations. To separate the investment-worthy arrivistes from the merely newsworthy, we asked a dozen Wall Street analysts for their favorite new blue chips. We then singled out the three with the strongest profit potential. Our top choices:

--Danka Business Systems (ticker symbol: DANKY; recently traded on NASDAQ at $40.50; 0.4% yield). In September, this $1.2 billion copier and office-equipment supplier, based in St. Petersburg, announced an agreement to buy Eastman Kodak's copier service operations for $684 million. When the deal is completed by year-end, Danka, which had offered mainly low- and mid-volume copiers, will add fast-selling high-volume copiers to its line as well. Judith Scott, an analyst at Robert W. Baird, looks for Danka's sales to reach $5 billion by the year 2000. Prudential Securities analyst B. Alex Henderson believes Danka's earnings will jump an average of nearly 40% annually over the next three years, which will send the stock to $60 within 18 months, for a 49% gain.

--WorldCom (WCOM; NASDAQ, $23.50; no yield). The nation's fourth largest long-distance carrier, this $3.6 billion Jackson, Miss. company recently announced the $12 billion purchase of MFS Communications, a leading supplier of alternative local phone service to business customers. The new company, MFS WorldCom, will have $5.4 billion in sales and operations in 45 countries. As WorldCom grabs share of the local calling market, analyst Craig Ellis at Wheat First Butcher Singer looks for the company's profits to grow at a 20% annual rate over the next five years. Kevin Moore, an analyst at Alex. Brown & Sons, expects the stock to rise 40% to $33 within 12 months. (For a sharply different take on WorldCom, see MONEY's November Money Pro.)

A.H. Belo (BLC; NYSE, $37.75; 1.2% yield). Best known for its flagship newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, this $735 million family-controlled media company announced in September the acquisition of broadcaster Providence Journal Co. for $1.5 billion. The deal makes Belo the nation's eighth largest TV station operator, with $1.1 billion in revenues. "TV stations are faster-growing, more profitable properties than newspapers," says PaineWebber analyst William Drewry. And Michael Kupinski, an analyst at A.G. Edwards, figures Belo shares will hit $45 within the next 12 to 18 months, for a prime-time 20% return. --S.S.