Yahoo Rises After Q4 Earnings Beat, Gives Back Some Gains on Guidance

Sunnyvale, California-based online media company Yahoo YHOO released its fourth-quarter earnings results after the closing bell on Monday. In the after hours, the stock was trading up around 4.50 percent to $21.22 as investors initially reacted favorably to the report. However, Yahoo shares gave back much of the gain during the company's conference call. The company led by former Google GOOG exec Marissa Mayer reported net income of $272.3 million or $0.23 per share, compared to $295.6 million or $0.24 per share, in last year's fourth-quarter. On an adjusted basis, which is comparable to analysts' consensus, Yahoo said that net income was $369.6 million or $0.32 per share, an increase versus the $306.7 million or $0.25 per share, the company reported last year. This solidly beat Wall Street earnings per share expectations of $0.28. Revenue in the quarter was up 2 percent to $1.35 billion from $1.32 billion in the year ago period. Revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs rose 4 percent to $1.22 billion compared to $1.17 billion last year. Analysts had consensus revenue estimates of $1.21 billion heading into the report. During the earnings call, Yahoo guided first quarter sales $1.07-1.1 billion, less than the $1.12 billion analysts were expecting. The earnings news from Yahoo and the initial favorable price action in the stock should contribute to the company's nice run of late. Over the last 3 months, the shares have climbed around 21 percent.