This breakup is still paying off

Article Excerpt

In September 2000, the old Dun & Bradstreet split into two new companies: Moody’s and the new Dun & Bradstreet. Since then, Moody’s is up 149.2%, and Dun & Bradstreet has gained 247.5%. We feel both still have plenty of growth ahead. MOODY’S CORP. $32 (New York symbol MCO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 222.0 million; Market cap: $7.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.moodys.com) provides credit ratings and other information on bonds and other securities. The company gets two-thirds of its revenue from credit ratings. The remaining third comes from its analytics businesses, which mainly sell credit-assessment software. There have been fewer issues of speculative-grade bonds and bonds backed by mortgages due to concerns over high European debt levels. That has hurt demand for the company’s credit ratings. That’s why Moody’s is continuing to expand beyond credit ratings. To that end, it recently bought a majority stake in Copal Partners, a private firm that sells…