4 Ex-Dividend Stocks With Buy Ratings

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The following stocks go ex-dividend Wednesday, meaning an investor must purchase the shares Tuesday to qualify for the next dividend payment: Cracker Barrel(CBRL) , American Water Works(AWK) , PerkinElmer(PKI) and Smith & Nephew(SNN) .

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

Cracker Barrel

The restaurant chain and retailer is scheduled to report third-quarter results on May 22. Analysts, on average, anticipate earnings of 74 cents a share on revenue of $607.49 million.

"We continue to rate CBRL shares Underperform but are raising our price objective from $40 to $48 to reflect higher estimates as well as increased interest in the stock as activist Sardar Biglari has raised his stake to 15% despite losing a bid for a board seat in December," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts wrote in a Feb. 21 report.

Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 1.8%

Rated "A (Buy)" by TheStreet Ratings: The company's second-quarter gross profit margin was about the same as it was the previous year.

Cracker Barrel has very weak liquidity. Its Quick Ratio is 0.46, which demonstrates a lack of ability to meet its short-term cash needs.

In the second quarter, stockholders' net worth increased 23.28% from the prior year.