Analysts doubtful on AOL (AOL) stock as struggling Internet pioneer goes public again

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) will start trading as an independent public company Thursday after nearly a decade with Time Warner Inc. -- and some analysts are already panning the stock.

The spinoff is likely to help boost Time Warner Inc., eliminating "a continual source of investor frustration" BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey Logsdon said in a client note.

Merriman Curhan Ford's Richard Fetyko told that AOL's long-declining dial-up subscriber base is likely to drag down visits to the company's Web sites. And that means fewer ad dollars -- the revenue stream AOL is counting on for its second act.

Benjamin Schachter, of Broadpoint AmTech, has doubts about the strategy. In a note, he pointed to traffic declines over the past nine months at AOL's Internet properties. "If the new management team cannot fix user engagement," he said, "most of the other initiatives will not mean much." Schachter rates AOL "Neutral."