As we've done in the past, my fellow analysts and I are here to rank five popular stocks. No cop-outs allowed!

The stocks: Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Boeing (NYSE: BA), and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)

Let's get to it.

Rick Munarriz, Fool contributor and Rule Breakers analyst

  1. Cisco
  2. McDonald's
  3. Pfizer
  4. Boeing
  5. Bank of America

How can you not like Cisco during an economic recovery? Companies have scaled back on their IT budgets during the economic downturn, but we're living in a wired world. The pent-up demand for networking equipment is going to be substantial, and Cisco is going to have choice seats.

Analysts see earnings growing 19% this fiscal year and 12% come next year. That's faster than McDonald's and Pfizer. Boeing and Bank of America are growing faster, but they're coming off depressed recessionary showings, so I have those two at the bottom of my list until they prove themselves worthy.

In the meantime, Cisco is trading at just 13 times year-ahead profit targets. That's a steal!

Alex Dumortier, CFA, Fool contributor

  1. McDonald's
  2. Cisco Systems
  3. Boeing
  4. Pfizer
  5. Bank of America

It was difficult to rank these five. All have super-solid franchises in their respective sectors, and none looks singularly overvalued. All things considered, though, I like McDonald's best because:

  • It has a stable business model.
  • It pays a healthy dividend (yield: 3.1%).
  • It still has significant growth opportunities in frontit: All geographies outside the U.S. and Europe represent less than one-fifth of revenues.

Both Cisco and Boeing are more levered to the economic cycle than Pfizer, which I don't see as a plus right now -- but I'm underwhelmed by the pharmaceutical giant's growth prospects. Finally, I ranked Bank of America last mainly because of the significant uncertainty that remains concerning the overhaul of financial regulation, but I think it could be a sleeper. For patient investors who can look to 2011 and beyond, the current price could prove to be attractive once the company begins to realize the full value of its commercial- and investment-banking franchises.

Tim Beyers, Fool contributor and Rule Breakers analyst

  1.  Cisco
  2.  Pfizer
  3.  McDonald's
  4.  Bank of America
  5.  Boeing

As a tech writer, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I favor Cisco above all the others. But there's more than hometown bias at work here. Cisco estimates that overall Web traffic will quadruple over the next four years, largely from the rise of video streaming through the Web. Hollywood wannabes Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google, and Netflix are filling Cisco's coffers as much as their own.

Pfizer and McDonald's go second and third on my list in order of their dividend yields. At 4.70%, Pfizer's dividend already yields more than the historic rate of inflation. On the other hand, Bank of America, a multibagger since the early 2009 bottom, has long since lost its status as a dividend dynamo. As of this writing, the stock was valued at a premium to its expected growth.

Finally, there's Boeing. Wall Street is expecting slowing growth, and for good reason: Commercial airlines aren't buying like they used to, and the aircraft they're most interested in -- the so-called "Dreamliner" -- has been a nightmare to manufacture. I'll pass, thanks.

Matt Koppenheffer, Fool contributor
This is a really tough one, since I wouldn't be particularly unhappy owning any of these stocks (and I do own McDonald's). But if I had to rank them, it would look like this:

  1. Cisco
  2. McDonald's
  3. Bank of America
  4. Boeing
  5. Pfizer

I've been very critical of Apple and other companies that have been hoarding cash instead of paying dividends. So how does Cisco differ from Apple? It's used cash to much better effect to make acquisitions, and it's also been very liberal with its buyback program. Plus, Cisco's CEO recently suggested that a dividend could begin hitting shareholders' accounts in the next few years.

More importantly, though, Cisco is simply one of the best tech companies out there, and its stock is attractively priced right now.

McDonald's stock's valuation isn't as low as I'd like to see it, but the company is just so good that I still think it's still a buyable stock. Bank of America takes the three spot because the stock is cheap and I don't think the new financial-reform rules will do as much as feared to hamper profits.

Boeing comes in at four because I just don't see its valuation as particularly attractive right now, while Pfizer rounds out the group despite its low valuation, because of the challenges the company faces with significant drugs going off-patent.

Anand Chokkavelu, CFA, Fool editor

  1. McDonald's
  2. Cisco
  3. Pfizer
  4. Bank of America
  5. Boeing

I'm in general agreement with the consensus that McDonald's and Cisco are the safest plays here. But for those well-versed in the drug and banking industries, Pfizer and Bank of America have the most potential for contrarian upside. Because of Pfizer's pipeline concerns and Bank of America's regulatory uncertainty and complex balance sheet, there's a lot of room for divergent opinions. That frequently spells opportunity. Or not.

Those are our rankings. Share yours in the comments section below. And then see our thoughts on gold.