Ahead Of McGraw Hill's Q3 Report

10/26/2009 5:44 AM ET

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(RTTNews) - Book publisher McGraw Hill Companies (MHP: News ) will publish its third-quarter results before the market opens today, with analysts projecting earnings of $1.05 per share on revenues of $1.94 billion. In the third quarter of fiscal 2008, the company earned $1.23 per share, on revenues of $2.0 billion.

McGraw-Hill Companies provides information services in sectors like financial services, education and business information markets. It's most famous brands include BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, and J.D. Power and Associates.

While releasing second-quarter results, the company trimmed the top-end of its prior earnings forecast for fiscal 2009 to $2.20 - $2.25 per share from the prior range of $2.20 - $2.30 per share, citing weakening market conditions in advertising and school education.

The company also said that it anticipates full-year 2009 revenues to decline 5.5% - 6.5% year-on-year, reflecting revenues between $5.95 billion and $6.01 billion. Earlier, the company had projected a revenue decline of 4.0% - 5.0%.

For the preceding second quarter, the New York-based owner of credit rating agency Standard & Poor's posted second-quarter net income of $164.09 million or $0.52 per share, down from $212.29 million or $0.66 per share in the year-ago quarter, hurt by lower revenues across all business segments as well as restructuring charges. Revenues for the quarter declined 12.4% to $1.47 billion from $1.67 billion in the same quarter of last year.

Among McGraw Hill's rivals, Moody's Corp. (MCO: News ) will issue forth its third-quarter numbers before the market opens on October 29, with analysts expecting earnings of $0.38 per share on revenues of $417.18 million. In the year-ago quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings of $0.45 per share on revenue of $433.4 million. Moody's raised its fiscal 2009 earnings outlook to a range of $1.45 - $1.55 per share from the prior range of $1.40 - $1.50 per share, reflecting stronger performance in the first half.

British education and media company Pearson Plc (PSO: News ,PSON.L: News ) posted a 20% growth in its sales and 19% rise in operating profit for the first nine months of fiscal 2009. The company said it currently expects full-year adjusted earnings to be at or above 60 pence per share, assuming that the current exchange rate of £1 : $1.64 prevails in the fourth quarter. Earlier, Pearson had projected fiscal 2009 adjusted earnings at or above the 2008 level of 57.7 pence per share.