4 Ex-Dividend Stocks With Buy Ratings

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The following stocks go ex-dividend Friday, meaning an investor must purchase the shares Thursday to qualify for the next dividend payment: Agilent Technologies(A) , Quest Diagnostics(DGX) , PNM Resources(PNM) and Thor Industries(THO) .

Each of the stocks received a buy rating from TheStreet Ratings.

Agilent Technologies

The electronic measurement solutions company reported last month first-quarter earnings of $230 million, or 65 cents a share, up from year-earlier earnings of $193 million, or 54 cents.

"Management presented a consistent financial model, offered details of its business drivers, and unveiled some new methods it will deploy to achieve its high incremental margin targets," Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a March 12 report. "Our Outperform rating is based on a view that management can drive higher margins by crosspollinating ideas from its electronics segment to its bio-analytics segment."

Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 0.9%

Rated "B (Buy)" by TheStreet Ratings: The company's first-quarter gross profit margin was about the same as it was a year earlier.

Agilent Technologies is extremely liquid. Its Quick Ratio is 2.63, which shows the company can meet its short-term cash needs.

In the first quarter, stockholders' net worth increased 34.93% from the prior year.