Financial Discussion of YP Companies

Interesting summary of a financial article on the state of the Yellow Pages business...

Dense ‘Deal’ Piece on YP « Screenwerk

Barrons Promotes RH Donnelly as "Risky, But Attractive"

RHD's stock is up 14% at the moment based mostly on an article in Barron's which indicates that, despite the 97% drop in stock price in the last year, RHD's directories are still experiencing strong usage in some sectors and are "far from dead". The albatross, as they say, is the $9.7B of net debt the companies holds. But, as they say, if you're looking for a high-risk, potential high-return stock, RHD may be one to check out. This article made me wonder if they feel the same about Idearc, but they didn't really say here.

Flashing Yellow, With Lots of Green - Barrons.com

Self-Storage Reports Strong Profits

This one may be a bit off-topic, but relevant. As we move forward on this blog, we are going to talk a bit more about big local (Print, IYP and Search) categories, as it is relevant.

Storage and Moving and two big categories for us, and they're categories that are undergoing some growth right now, if this story is any indication. In this case, Public Storage has had their profits increase by 500% this quarter (vs last year), mostly due to the housing market. Realtors and Loans are two other big categories for the local space, and ones that are undergoing drastic shifts with the changes in the housing markets. We can probably all look for their investments in advertising to decrease a bit (at least temporarily). However, it looks like storage (and likely moving as well) may pick up some of the slack. Time for local sites to shift focus a bit?

Amid 91201 Foreclosures, Public Storage Inc. Reports Strong Gains | Redfin Los Angeles Sweet Digs