Dun & Bradstreet puts off sale

Article Excerpt

DUN & BRADSTREET CORP. $76 (New York symbol DNB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 44.6 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dnb.com) shot up to around $84 in August 2012 on speculation that the company may sell itself. However, reports that it has stopped looking for a buyer caused the stock to fall to its current price. Meanwhile, the slow economy is hurting demand for Dun & Bradstreet’s credit reports. In the third quarter of 2012, its revenue fell 6.0%, to $413.2 million from $439.4 million a year earlier. However, savings from a cost-cutting plan pushed up its earnings by 13.4%, to $79.4 million from $70.0 million. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 23.9%, to $1.76 from $1.42. Dun & Bradstreet is still a hold. hold…