Yahoo Does OK in Q4, Guidance for Q1 Light

Carol Bartz, you have some work to do.

Yahoo (YHOO) Tuesday afternoon posted Q4 revenues ex-TAC of $1.375 billion, about in line with Street estimates of $1.37 billion, and down 2% from a year earlier. Overall revenues were $1.806 billion, down 1%. Ad revenue from owned and operated sites was $1.06 billion, up 3% from a year ago. Ad revenue from affiliate sites was $531 million, down 4%. Fees revenue dropped 12% to $212 million.

Yahoo posted an operating loss before depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation for the quarter of $60 million, down from a positive $527 million a year ago. On an adjusted basis, Yahoo posted OIBDA of $542 million. Cash flow from operations in the quarter fell to $321 million, from $622 million a year ago. Free cash flow fell to $219 million, from $330 million.

The company posted a GAAP loss of $303 million or 22 cents a share; on a non-GAAP basis the company earned 17 cents a share, above the Street at 13 cents.

Yahoo noted that U.S. revenues were up 2%, while international revenues were down 10%.

For Q1, the company sees revenue of $1.525 billion to $1.725 billion; that includes TAC. Yahoo expects a TAC rate of 27%, which suggests revenue ex-TAC of $1.11 billion to $1.26 billion. The Street has been looking for $1.29 billion. Yahoo Sees adjusted OIBDA for the quarter of $365 million to $415 million, down from the $542 million posted in Q4.

Yahoo’s cash and marketable securities at quarter end totaled $3.52 billion, up from $2.36 billion a year ago.

Yahoo’s post-earnings conference call starts at 5 p.m.

Heading into the call, YHOO was down 6 cents, or 0.5%, to $11.28.

Original post

Comments

[jenny:]

Carol has some work to do but it's not as bad as we (I) thought. I mean at least there is some hope here...Investors are still optimistic too--YHOO closed up today and sentiment actually looks like it could become bullish in the upcoming days (www.predictwallstreet....). I really thought people would become pretty bearish about this company after the release but it looks like YHOO withstood the recession better than most people though, especially with Bartz now at the head.

2009 Jan 27 06:53 PM

[Bill Thompson:]

This guy thinks Yhoo is going to get bought out by the year, crashmarketstocks.com

2009 Jan 27 09:20 PM

[Esward Gold...:]

Yahoo will survive of course, but Google will shine this 2009. Take a look at this stock advice:

www.gainerstoday.com/G...

2009 Jan 28 12:17 AM