This Spin-off Has Already Gained 40%

Article Excerpt

IDEARC INC. $36 (New York symbol IAR; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 146.8 million; Market cap: $5.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) publishes over 1,200 yellow and white pages phone directories in 35 states. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc. until November 2006. That’s when Verizon handed out its Idearc shares to its own investors as a tax-deferred dividend. Directories are a slow-growing business, but they still generate plenty of steady cash flow. Growing revenue from Idearc’s online properties, including the popular SuperPages.com search site, is helping offset weakness in the print division. The stock is up 40% since the spin-off, but still trades at just 12.3 times its forecast 2007 profit of $2.92 a share. The $1.37 dividend seems safe, and yields 3.8%. Idearc is a buy. buy…