Needham Upgrades Yahoo; Cites 'New Urgency For Turn-Around'

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Yahoo Inc.'s
YHOO
getting tagged by yet another shareholder activist last week adds new urgency to a hoped-for turn-around that should make the company an attractive investment, an analyst said Monday. Needham & Co's Laura Martin upgraded Yahoo to Buy with a target of $48, suggesting that activist investor Starboard's recent entreaties to Yahoo's management should bring pressure for improvements "that we believe have been missing." Starboard's Jeffrey C. Smith urged Yahoo Friday "to take immediate steps" to merge with AOL Inc.
AOL
and engineer lower future taxes on its $34 billion remaining stake in Alibaba Holdings Ltd.
BABA
. http://www.benzinga.com/news/14/09/4879728/activist-urges-yahoo-inc-to-buy-aol-inc-sell-non-core-assets Martin said Starboard's involvement should "aid capital allocation of the cash on Yahoo's books." Yahoo has promised to return to shareholders half the $6 billion it obtained in the sale of part of its Alibaba stake earlier this month. Smith on Friday offered scathing criticism of Yahoo's recent acquisition spree on which it spent $1.3 billion and which have resulted in "materially decreased" operating earnings. Despite Martin's current enthusiasm, Starboard's proposal marks the third time in the past six years that an activist investor has targeted Yahoo. Carl Icahn lambasted its management in 2008 for rejecting a $47.5 billion offer from Microsoft Corp.
MSFT
, winning three seats on Yahoo's board and in 2012 Daniel Loeb similarly obtained three board seats and arranged for the departure of Yahoo Chief Executive Scott Thompson. Yahoo and AOL were little changed in trading early Monday. holders of YHOO who actually wanted to own Alibaba are presumably now gone days as a proxy for Alibaba are
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