Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (DNB), a well-known provider of business information, reported fiscal third-quarter earnings before non-core gains and one-time charges of $1.13 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. EPS results increased one cent from the year-ago profit of $1.12 per share.   Meanwhile, core revenues (excluding revenues of $10.2 million in the year-ago period associated with the domestic portion of Italian operations which have been divested) were $399 million in the quarter, flat with the year-ago period. Revenues were slightly above the Zacks Consensus estimate of $396.2 million. Including the impact of the divested business and the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange, total revenue decreased 2.5% to $399 million.   Core revenues were positively impacted by Sales & Marketing Solutions revenues (26.5% of total core revenue), which were up 2% year over year to $105.9 million, offset by flat revenues from Risk Management Solutions (66% ...

Iron Mountain (IRM) announced third-quarter earnings 24 cents per share, which was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.   Revenues   Total revenues for the quarter were $764.9 million, a decrease of 2.6% from the $784.3 million reported in the year-ago quarter. This was in line with the company’s guidance range of $760 million to $780 million. Growth in internal revenue (excluding the effects of foreign currency fluctuations and acquisitions) was 2% year over year. The internal growth rate in storage was 7%, core service 1% and complementary service -15%. Currency had a -4% impact on revenue, while the impact of acquisitions was 0%. Internal growth rate of storage revenue in the North American Physical and International Physical business segments were offset to a certain extent by the negative economic impact on digital revenues and activity-based service revenues related to the handling and transportation of items in ...

When you invest in a stock, one of the best things you can see is analysts raising their expectations about what the company is going to earn for the current fiscal year. There are several ways of measuring this, but the following is a list of the companies with the biggest increases in their consensus earnings expectations for this year over the last month.

To make the list, a company had to have a current mean (average) estimate of over 50 cents, be a member of the S&P 500 and have at least three estimates for this year. The 50-cent restriction was put in to prevent small dollar changes that are huge percentage moves from dominating the list (going from a penny expected to a nickel). Having 3 or more estimates also helps insure it was not a fluke. The S&P 500 restriction was put in to make sure we

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IRM Outperforms, Outlook Stronger   Iron Mountain (IRM) reported second quarter 2009 net income per share of $0.25, which exceeded the market consensus estimate of $0.23 per share.   Total revenue for the quarter was $746.0 million, a decrease of 3.0% from the $769.0 million reported in the year-ago quarter. This was in line with the company’s guidance range of $730.0 million to $750.0 million. Growth in internal revenue (excluding the effects of foreign currency fluctuations and acquisitions) was 4.0% year over year. The internal growth rate in storage was 6%, core service 5% and complementary service 6%. Currency had a -7% impact on revenue, while the impact of acquisitions was 0%. By segment, storage represented $415.8 million, almost flat year over year. Service and storage material sales were $330.2 million, down 6.3% year over year. The overall growth rate was impacted by significant weakness in ...

Wright Express Corporation (WXS) just reported second-quarter EPS that easily exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate, and also announced encouraging outlooks for the third-quarter and full year.

< ?DART(15);?> In response, shares had advanced approximately 10% Wednesday afternoon, making WXS a top-performing Zacks #1 Rank company.

WXS is a leading global provider of payment processing and information management services. Volume, today, is approximately 837,000, compared to the daily average of nearly 291,000.

The company is a member of the varied Business Services industry. In addition to WXS, the 233-stock Zacks #1 Rank List includes 2 other names from the space: Fair Issac Corporation (FIC) and Iron Mountain (IRM).

A Better-Than-Expected Q2M

Earlier today, WXS announced adjusted earnings per share of 57 cents for the quarter; that's more than 40% better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents.

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The Providence Service Corporation (PRSC) announced today that it expects record earnings for its second quarter, which the company will release during the week of Aug 9.

< ?DART(15);?> The news helped shares gain approximately 4% on another tough day for the market. Due to the difficult environment today, the advance is enough for PRSC to reach the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List on Tuesday.

PRSC, through owned and managed entities, provides home and community-based social services and non-emergency transportation services management to government-sponsored clients under programs such as welfare, juvenile justice, Medicaid and corrections.

Q2 EPS to Rise 33% ... At Least

Thanks to improved operating results in April and May, PRSC now expects earnings per share of at least 36 cents in the second quarter, which is more than 30% better than the year-ago result of 27 cents.

The

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Highlights include Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A and BRK.B), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), M&T Bank (MTB), SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Iron Mountain (IRM).Basically, the last of the Buy-and-Hold intrinsic value investors, Warren Buffett, through his investment entities Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A and BRK.B) was out bargain-hunting during 1Q09.While Berkshire officials are typically tight-lipped, based on documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission recently, Berkshire's holdings as of March 31, 2009 showed financials high on the list.True to his comments made at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting earlier this month -- where Mr.Buffett stated that US Bancorp (USB) and Wells Fargo (WFC) were extremely strong banks and that he would be willing to invest in ...