Buy for more spinoff gains

Article Excerpt

MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES INC. $55 (New York symbol MHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 280.2 million; Market cap: $15.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mcgraw-hill.com) will soon split into two separate, publicly traded companies. One of these new firms, McGraw-Hill Financial, will sell financial-information products. This business will include Standard & Poor’s, which provides credit ratings on bonds, and McGraw-Hill’s J.D. Power market- research firm. Right now, this division supplies 60% of McGraw-Hill’s total revenue. The other company, McGraw-Hill Education Inc., will publish textbooks for schools and colleges. It sells its products in 28 countries and 65 languages. Special dividend will be tax-deferred Investors will receive a special dividend of one common share of McGraw-Hill Education (New York symbol MHED) for every three McGraw-Hill shares they own. This will be a tax-deferred transaction: shareholders will not have to pay capital gains taxes until they sell their new shares. After the distribution, which will probably be paid by the…