Plenty of companies learned to do more with less last year. They cut staff and gave remaining workers extra tasks. They sold idle assets and used the cash to reduce debt and interest payments. As a result, 44% of large, midsize and small companies included in the S&P Composite 1500 index managed to increase their returns on equity over the past year. In other words, they generated more profit relative to the value of the resources they own.

A rising ROE is a promising sign for a company, especially when it signals consistent efficiency efforts amid rising prosperity, rather than desperate cost cuts in the absence of growth. The companies below have increased their ROEs over the past five years, and in their most recent quarterly reports announced that sales had increased by a double-digit percentage. That suggests they're getting bigger and leaner, rather than one or the other.

HJ Heinz

HJ Heinz makes 650 million bottles of ketchup each year. It also makes many other pantry and freezer products: soups, baked beans, sauces, microwave dinners and so on. Its brands include Ore Ida, SmartOnes and Classico, and others known chiefly in Europe and Asia. More than 60% of the company's sales come from outside the U.S., and 15% come from emerging economies. Over the past several years, Heinz has cut products from its struggling food-service division and added ones with brighter growth prospects, like an infant formula line in China. Over the past five years, shares of Heinz have bested the S&P 500's increase by about 20 percentage points, while providing investors with more income. Shares now yield 3.6%, versus less than 2% for the index.

Aeropostale

An early Easter and a sudden improvement in the weather gave U.S. clothing stores a sales boost in March (and might crimp results in April). Even considering that advantage, Aeropostale impressed. Its March sales at longstanding stores jumped 19%, clearing by far Wall Street's estimate of 12%. Clothing margins improved significantly, partly because management has found cheaper sources for merchandise, and because the company used far less clearance pricing than a year ago. Shares have gained closed to 40% this year -- more than four times the increase of the S&P 500 index. Nonetheless, they sell for just 11 times this year's earnings forecast, a discount of more than one-quarter to the index.

The Brink's Company

Brinks turned 150 years old last year. The security company collects more than $3 billion in yearly sales, mostly from transporting cash and valuables and servicing cash machines. It also provides security for airports and embassies. Just over two-thirds of sales come from outside North America. Brinks shares today sell for less than half their price of two years ago. A downturn in jewelry sales has cost the company some lucrative transport business, and a cash snafu in Venezuela has turned costly. The government there, faced with a plunging oil price and shrinking revenue last year, restricted the amount of local earnings business may convert to other currencies at the advantageous official rate. Brinks was forced to begin using the unregulated (but tolerated) parallel system with lower, market rates. As a result, earnings estimates have fallen, and Venezuela, which previously contributed 36% of Brink's operating income, now contributes an estimated 12%. That setback aside, management is making targeted acquisitions in Brazil, Russia, India and China and is expanding into higher-margin services, like its CompuSafe cash collection machines, which eliminate the need for clerks to count their cash drawers at the end of each shift. Shares of Brinks trade a 18 times earnings today, but a return to peak profits recorded in 2008 would put them at 12 times earnings.