By Jerry Ackerman, Globe Staff

BULL PROFILES CMG Information Services, Inc. BKC Semiconductors, Inc. The Learning Co. Infinium Software, Inc. Keane Inc. MAIN STORY Bulls and Bears

he Learning Co. learned a lot in 1997 - and, accordingly, passed its investor test with flying colors.

Saddled with $460 million in debt from an earlier acquisition spree, this Cambridge-based educational software company saw its share price drop 25 percent in 1996, placing it squarely on last year's Globe 100 bear list.

But help was waiting. In August, Thomas H. Lee Co. and Bain Capital Inc. of Boston, along with Centre Partners Management LLC of New York, agreed to wipe out much of that red ink in a transaction that gave them 25 percent control of the company.

With this vote of confidence from respected investors, The Learning Co.'s shares were in demand again, rising 263 percent during the 12 months ending March 31 - enough to put the company in third place among the Globe 100 bulls for 1997.

This investment boost did more than restore market confidence in the company once known as SoftKey International Inc. It also gave chief executive Michael Perlik leeway to launch another round of acquisitions, expanding The Learning Co.'s title list to what the company now says is a 30 percent market share.

That list includes such perennial best-sellers as the ''Reader Rabbit'' reading instruction series and a library of ''National Geographic'' titles, along with a new group of learning games designed and written for pre-teen girls.

All this activity has coincided with a drop in personal computer prices to under $1,000, with lower prices predicted in the months ahead - a development that promises to put computers in more homes in coming years.

''Younger, working-class families with small kids are now buying computers,'' said R. Scott Murray, The Learning Co.'s chief financial officer, in March. ''That's a whole new demographic class of consumers for us'' - and The Learning Co. is pricing its software to match.