STOCKS TO WATCH: Yahoo, AMD, Sterling Commerce, Oracle

The leading Web portal operator reports third quarter results after market close.

First Call's consensus of 27 analysts has the company pulling in 9 cents a share for its third quarter, but Yahoo has beaten estimates handily both on the top and bottom lines in past quarters. Most observers expect this quarter will be more of the same.

Also scheduled to report quarterly results after market close is this long-troubled chipmaker, which is expected to post a third quarter loss of 97 cents per share, according to First Call. This is the first three-month period in recent memory that didn't see a revenue warning from AMD, so the company might report results in line with or better than forecasts.

AMD watchers are looking for margin boosts from the recently introduced Athlon chip, although few expect any market share gains. The company could also draw attention because of news reports about plans for a 64-bit chip named "SledgeHammer".

The e-business software vendor said it expects to report fiscal fourth quarter earnings of 41 to 42 cents per share, not including one-time charges or results from the XcelleNet business being spun off. First Call's survey of 17 analysts predicted a profit of 39 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Fleshing out the company's software hosting vision, CEO Larry Ellison on Tuesday announced Oracle will not sell any of its applications, other than its database, to application service providers.

Instead, Oracle will focus its Business OnLine strategy on partnerships between Oracle, backend datacenter providers, independent software vendors and systems integrators. And Oracle will be its own, sole ASP, Ellison said. Ellison detailed some of Oracle's latest thinking on its Business OnLine initiative on Tuesday, on the eve of Internet World, at a press conference in New York at the World Trade Center.>