Cost Cuts Will Keep Ad Specialist Profitable

Article Excerpt

HARTE-HANKS INC. $5.29 (New York symbol HHS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 63.3 million; Market cap: $334.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; WSSF Rating: Average) provides direct mail and other marketing services. It also publishes free “shopper” newspapers in Florida and California. These papers rely solely on advertising for revenue. Due to weaker advertising and marketing spending, particularly by banks and retailers, Harte-Hanks’s 2008 revenue fell 6.9%, to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion in the previous year. Its earnings dropped 32.3%, to $62.7 million from $92.6 million. Earnings per share fell 22.2%, to $0.98 from $1.26, because of a 13% drop in the number of shares outstanding. Harte-Hanks is aggressively cutting its costs, including closing printing plants and call centres. These moves should lower its expenses by $28.6 million in 2009. Harte-Hanks is a buy. buy…