How much stuff should companies own, ideally? The answer has a lot to do with their size and the asset-intensiveness of their industries. Railroads require more infrastructure than software makers. Generally speaking, however, companies are best served by owning little relative to the profits they generate, and a lot relative to the price of their shares.

The first condition is called a high return on equity. Companies that boast such a return show that they make profitable use of the resources available to them and thus are likely to earn lucrative returns on cash they reinvest into their businesses.

The second condition is a low price-to-book-value ratio. In several long-term studies, that measure bests a low price-to-earnings ratio as a predictor of handsome stock returns. That might be because the book value of a company's assets tends to be less volatile than its quarterly earnings, so it tends to be a more reliable gauge of value over time.

The companies below have high returns on equity and low price-to-book ratios, relative to their industry averages, That means they have reasonable price-to-earnings ratios and that they're efficient and cheap, rather than just cheap. Each pays a decent dividend.

McDonald's

Price-to-book: 5.8
Return on equity: 36.4%
Dividend yield: 3.1%

Juice bars and coffee houses have a new competitor with colossal scale. McDonald's (MCD) says July sales at its longstanding U.S. stores jumped 5.7% from a year earlier, driven by demand for fruit smoothies and fancy coffee drinks. Sales rose 5.3% in Europe, with particular strength in France, the U.K. and Germany. In other markets, including China, sales jumped 10.1%. In addition to rolling out its popular McCafe beverages, McDonald's has given chic makeovers to many of its stores and expanded its hours.

"We continue to believe that MCD will gain market share given new product innovation, upgraded facilities and marketing strength," Sterne Agee analyst Lynne Collier wrote in a late July note to clients, reiterating her "buy" recommendation. Big Macs seem even more profitable than Mac computers at the moment; McDonald's has a higher return on equity than Apple (AAPL).

Medtronics

Price-to-book: 2.6
Return on equity: 22.3%
Dividend yield: 2.6%

Two years ago, Medtronic (MDT) shares sold for $54 and change. Today, they cost about $36. The medical device maker's valuation has become "too compelling to ignore," wrote BMO Capital Markets analyst Joanne Wuensch in mid-July, changing her prognosis on the shares to "outperform" from "market perform."

Medical technology has historically been an investment safe haven, Wuensch wrote, and while that's no longer true for the entire industry, it remains true for Medtronic, considering its attractive product portfolio and strong finances. The company makes stents to prop open arteries, implantable drug pumps for chronic pain, spine inserts that can replace damaged discs (eliminating the need to replace them with grafted bone collected from the hip) and much else. Sales are expected to increase at 3% to 5% this year and next, resulting in 8% to 9% growth in earnings per share. The stock sells for just 10 times earnings.

Intel

Price-to-book: TK
Return on equity: TK.T%
Dividend yield: T.K%

Microchip maker Intel (INTC) is preparing to introduce Sandy Bridge not a new member of the management team, but rather, the working name for its next generation of computer processors. According to reviewers, the new chips will bring improved power efficiency; speed that ramps up when needed, provided the system is cool enough; and a graphic processor crammed onto the same die as the main processor, offering cheap power for gamers. Analysts expect sales from Sandy Bridge to begin ramping up in the fourth quarter.

Total sales for Intel are forecast to jump more 27% this year, reflecting a rebound from last year's sharp contraction in consumer spending, and to then increase by 5% in 2011. Shares sell for less than 10 times earnings, and at last count, the company held net cash equal to about 15% of its stock market value. On Tuesday, Intel announced it will buy Texas Instruments (TXN) cable modem business for an undisclosed sum, suggesting plans to focus more on home entertainment.