UPDATE 2-R.H. Donnelley exits bankruptcy as Dex One

* Began trading under "DEXO" ticker Monday

* Names new board of directors

* CEO says company to continue expanding on Internet

* Analyst says $35-$45 is fair value for stock

* Shares open at $31 and rise to $33.07 (Adds CEO & analyst comment, shares, dateline, byline)

By Emily Chasan

NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. yellow pages publisher R.H. Donnelley Corp RHDCQ.OB said it had emerged from its Chapter 11 restructuring as Dex One Corp on Monday and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "DEXO" (DEXO.N).

The company, which exited court protection in about eight months under a prearranged deal with lenders, shed about $6.4 billion in debt and $500 million in annual interest payments during the bankruptcy.

Shares of the Cary, North Carolina-based publisher rose 6.7 percent to $33.07 on its first day of trading.

With about 50 million shares of the new company outstanding, the trades gave Dex One a market valuation of about $1.6 billion.

"Our focus is on moving forward with our business strategy, and trying to do the absolute best we can to serve our clients in what's become a very confusing and fragmented time for them," Dex One Chief Executive David Swanson said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

Swanson said part of the move behind the name change was so it could be seen as a "one-stop shop" for small businesses to do their marketing and advertising, whether it is online or in the phonebook.

"The primary focus of our business today is providing marketing services to local businesses," Swanson said. "Yellow pages is no longer the business, it is just simply a product."

Even though eight in 10 Americans still use the yellow pages book, Dex One expects a decline in its print product over time, Swanson said.

"There's a shift to these other media -- Internet, search engine, mobile or voice, but it is a slow evolutionary process. It's not nearly as radical a change as I think many people would like to believe," he added.

The company publishes print directories in over 600 markets but also runs websites like Dexknows.com and provides content for Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and Yellowpages.com.

Several yellow pages publishers were forced to file for bankruptcy over the past year as the U.S. recession, coupled with a prolonged decline in advertising spending and use of print directories hit their bottom line.

R.H. Donnelley, which was founded in 1886 as The Chicago Directory Company, had also been struggling with a heavy $9.7 billion debt load at the time, having pursued a strategy of acquisitions from 2003 to 2007.

The plan of reorganization it had arranged with creditors, which led to a relatively quick restructuring given the number of parties and amount of debt.

"We did a lot of pre-planning -- we did not wait until we were in some kind of economic crisis," Swanson said. "It puts us in a much healthier financial standpoint. We're in good shape for many years to come."

Dex One's stock could be fairly valued at $35 to $40, based on the implied value of its publicly traded debt, Stephen Grahling, a U.S. Event Driven trading strategy analyst at Jefferies said in a note to clients on Monday. He said that range could have "potential upside" if management's projections are too conservative.

The company, which was advised on its bankruptcy by law firms Sidley Austin, Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, and investment bank Lazard, also named its new board of directors on Monday. Dex One's old shares were canceled as part of the bankruptcy.

(Reporting by Emily Chasan; Additional reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Richard Chang)