Bankrate Inc.’s stock plunged $5.88, or 46%, to a record low in active trade Thursday, as disappointing results and outlook, and concerns over Google’s product changes, put the shares on course for their biggest-ever one-day price and percentage decline. Volume of about 2.3 million shares in the first half-hour of trade was already three times the full-day average over the past 30 days, according to FactSet. The stock’s second-biggest percentage decline was 22% in October 2012. The online personal finance content company, which went public in June 2011 at an initial-public-offering price of $15, reported late Wednesday fourth-quarter profit and sales that missed expectations. The company said “forward visibility is limited,” while it assessed the impacts of the Google developments, which include the termination of its Compare Credit Cards service, and the displaying of additional paid ads on top of search results. RBC downgraded bankrate Thursday to sector perform from outperform, and slashed its stock price target to $9 from $16.
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