(FORTUNE Magazine) – DOLLAR GENERAL When recession-battered consumers in the Southeast go bargain hunting, here's where they go. Dollar General, based in Scottsville, Kentucky, is a deeper than deep discounter of clothes, housewares, and health and primping aids. The chain, started in 1939, got its name by charging no more than a dollar for anything on the shelves. Today its 1,500 stores price goods at $25 and under, the equivalent of $2.44 or less in 1939 dollars. The average item sells for about $5. J. L. Turner and his son, Cal, founded the company by scavenging wares from retailers going bust. They originally ran Dollar as a wholesaling firm, then switched to retail in 1954. J.L.'s grandson Cal Turner Jr. now runs the chain, buying merchandise off season and selling it in places competitors have shunned. Dollar lives up to its name by minimizing overhead. To keep rent under $3 per square foot, for instance, it tries to locate stores in low-income neighborhoods in rural towns of less than 25,000 inhabitants. The household earnings of its average customer are under $25,000 a year. The stores sport no fancy automated-checkout scanners or computerized inventory systems. One manager and a clerk -- two at most -- run the show. Penny-pinching buying practices also help contain prices. Dollar buys about 70% of its stock in bulk at discount rates. But the real savings come from the other 30%, products acquired through great deals. These might be factory seconds, items with tiny flaws, or remnants that manufacturers couldn't pawn off on steady customers. Nike, for example, occasionally makes more sneakers than it can sell. So late in the season Dollar General buys them at a discount. Should you happen to stroll through a shop on the right day, you can pick up a new pair of Nikes for about half what they cost in sporting goods stores. Or you might find a cheap Gitano shirt or pair of Levi's jeans. In the fiscal year that ended in January, sales rose 6% to $653 million and earnings increased 18% to $15 million. In the first quarter of this dismal retail year, profits tripled on a 10% jump in sales. The stock recently sold for the not-so-bargain price of $19 per share, 21 times 1992 earnings as estimated by analyst Craig Weichmann of Morgan Keegan in Memphis. At that price the Turner clan, which controls 45% of the shares, has a stake worth $172 million.

ECI TELECOM Hello world. Goodbye busy circuits. ECI has quintupled the number of people who are able to reach out and touch someone with its digital circuit- multiplication equipment. These gadgets allow overseas fiber-optic cables to carry five times as many voice calls as the current technology does. The machines do this by converting a voice signal into digital form, then translating that information into a code. Since the code takes up less space than the original signal, much like shorthand vs. longhand, more traffic can travel through each fiber-optic line. Based in Israel, ECI operates in more than 40 countries. The largest chunk of its business comes from North America. Customers include AT&T, MCI, and British Telecom. The stock, which trades over the counter, recently closed at $37.13, 23 times 1991 earnings per share as estimated by Edward White Jr. of Shearson Lehman Brothers in New York City. Last year sales grew 41% to $74 million, and earnings almost tripled to $15 million. Return on equity was an impressive 30%.

HEALTH IMAGES This company incorporates two of the hottest trends in the medical industry: MRI (magnetic-resonance imaging) and free-standing treatment centers, in 28 locations throughout the Eastern U.S. Similar to an X-ray, MRI is a diagnostic procedure. But instead of using radiation, it combines a magnetic field and low-energy FM radio waves to create a digitized image. MRI is generally more precise than X-rays and can be used on soft body tissues that elude radiation. While Health Images charges about the same as hospitals for an MRI, the patient-friendly atmosphere keeps the public pouring in. People like the convenience of the centers -- none of the check-in hassles that plague most hospitals, and faster test results. Last year the company, located in Atlanta, earned $3 million on sales of $49 million, up 33% and 55%, respectively, over 1989. Return on equity was a healthy 20%. The stock recently sold for $10.63 a share, 19 times 1991 earnings as estimated by analyst Edward Keaney of Stifel Nicolaus in St. Louis.

INTERTRANS In a world gone global, this Dallas shipper is well situated. If an electronics company, say, wants to send some high-tech wares from a plant in Texas to one in Singapore, Intertrans can help. The company will pick up the goods and arrange for plane travel, which it can book cheaply because it ships in bulk. One of the company's 100 agents scattered around the world will receive the shipment in Singapore and handle all the red tape of customs, export documentation, and licensing. The representative then ensures that the goods are delivered to their final destination. Companies are willing to pay handsomely to dodge the intricacies of the world's postal systems. Last year Intertrans earned $6 million on sales of $206 million, up 19% and 22%, respectively, over 1989. The stock recently traded for $21.25 a share, 17 times the 1991 earnings estimate of Richard Edelman of Southwest Securities in Dallas. In May, Intertrans acquired a Miami shipper, a move that extended the company's reach -- and revenues -- in Latin America.