R.H. Donnelley shares jump sharply

Shares of R.H. Donnelley advanced almost 30 percent in trading Tuesday after a key competitor, Idearc, beat analysts' earnings expectations.

The stock price of Donnelley (NYSE: RHD), a Cary-based Yellow Pages publisher, closed up 28.6 percent, to $6.25.

The rise came the same day as Texas-based Idearc (NYSE: IAR), one of R.H. Donnelley's biggest competitors, said that earnings grew despite a downturn in revenue. Idearc said it was able to increase profits by cutting costs. It reported earnings per share, excluding one-time costs, of 79 cents, while analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 63 cents.

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That augurs well for R.H. Donnelley, which releases earnings May 8.

Idearc shares closed up 45.65 percent, to $4.85, Tuesday.

Yellow Pages publishers such as Donnelley and Idearc have been hurt in recent quarters by the economic slowdown, which has led to drops in advertising sales. The companies also face increased online competition, with their own Web efforts going up against readily available information from giants such as Google.

That fear of a slowdown, combined with extremely high debt loads in a weak credit market, have hammered the companies' stock. Even after the company's uptick today, shares of R.H. Donnelley are still down about 90 percent in the past 12 months.