An old chestnut with a damaged brand is back in the news and, for once, that’s in a good way.

I’m talking about Tyco Electronics, which suffered a spate of bad press and reduced investor interest after former CEO Denis Kozlowski pleaded guilty to grand larceny in 2005.

But the company is on a nice comeback these days and could be generating a lot of interest from investors. Tyco has beaten analyst expectations in three of the previous four quarters by an average of 6.43%. Earnings are up 12% per share in the second quarter and the stock price – which had been pretty steady at $35 per share has risen to $38 per share this week and looks like its on an arch to rise even more over the rest of 2008.

“It’s a solid beat,” said JP Morgan analyst Stephen Tusa, who added that Tyco has a “strong” backlog for new orders that should lead to increased profits.

The company designs and manufactures engineered electronic components, network solutions, wireless systems and undersea telecommunication systems for customers in 150 countries. Its customer base is diverse and has deep pockets – with the automotive, appliance, aerospace, defense, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries regularly doing business with Tyco.

In an investment profile by Zacks Research, Tyco is in the midst of a consolidation program, selling its Radio Frequency Components and Subsystem business to Cobham Defense Electronic Systems for $425 million in cash.

The company has also been able to share plenty of good news with investors. On May 1, Tyco came out with its second-quarter numbers that make a good case for investors looking for a company with stable growth and good future prospects. For the quarter, earnings rose to $301 million, or 62 cents per share, compared with $277 million, or 56 cents per share a year earlier. Net sales rose 14 percent to $3.66 billion, matching most Wall Street forecasts.

The good news should continue going forward. On a conference all with analysts, Tyco CEO Tom Lynch said third-quarter profits should exceed those all-important analyst expectations for the company, which the gurus peg at 63 cents per share. But Lynch says that Tyco’s numbers will come in at between 66 cents and 68 cents per share, besting analysts estimates once again.

A big rule of thumb on Wall Street is that if a company can keep beating the estimates from some of its best numbers-crunchers, then that company deserves a closer look from investors.

I think, right now, Tyco fits it into that category.