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Wall Street wonders if worst is over for Yahoo

4 min read

After Yahoo reported its first-quarter earnings and gave a murky outlook for 2001, Wall Street on Thursday was busy pondering whether the worst was over for the portal and its downtrodden shares.

The question is a big one following a report last week from Lehman Brothers analyst Holly Becker. She said that despite worries about leadership, online advertising, and a business model in transition, things couldn't get much worse for Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO). After all, Yahoo shares were off 15 cents to $15.71, well below a 52-week high of $150.

If an informal poll of Wall Street analysts is any indicator, Becker won't have much company on her Yahoo bandwagon. The consensus view: "The worst is over for Yahoo? What was Lehman Brothers analyst Holly Becker thinking?"

Most Wall Street analysts were certain that Yahoo's stock, as well as its business fundamentals, still haven't seen a bottom.

On Wednesday, Yahoo reported first-quarter earnings that just beat Wall Street's expectations and said it plans to lay off 12 percent of its employees. It also gave its outlook for 2001 and gave many mixed signals. Meanwhile, questions about who the company's new CEO will be, the online advertising market, and how much it can diversify its revenue stream abound.

For her part, Becker stuck to her guns and reiterated that she thinks Yahoo shares will rebound following the company's earnings.

"We remain convinced that the worst is over for Yahoo, as we had articulated when we upgraded the stock on April 5. Yesterday's results underpin our belief that estimates have come down far enough and that the companies brand, traffic, and consumer metrics are as strong as ever," wrote the influential Internet analyst in a note which reiterated her "buy" rating.

Most analysts disagreed. When asked whether the worst was over for Yahoo, here's what some other analysts had to say:

  • "No," said Jeffries & Company Frederick W. Moran, "there's obvious evidence that this company's operations and fundamentals haven't hit bottom yet."

    "Management confirmed that by saying that next quarter will be flat. To say we have seen a bottom fundamentally has no support--a bottom on the stock is a whole other argument," Moran said.

    Though Moran said the stock could be close to a bottom, he expects it to trade sideways for a while. "There's no rush to buy the stock. In fact, investors should stay away," he said.

  • "No, I don't think so," said CIBC World Markets' John Corcoran. "It's premature to say that this is the weakest quarter," especially if you look back historically, and compare figures to what had been expected. That's particularly true of "advertising revenue (which) was down 50 percent sequentially, (and) average revenue per average advertising client (which) was down 44 percent sequentially," Corcoran said.

    The analysts listed a whole host of signs that the worst is far from over: the company is still looking for a CEO; morale is becoming an issue; options are underwater; defections are increasing, and revenue diversification plans may take longer to yield fruit than expected.

  • "No, not yet," said William & Blair analyst Abhishek Gami. Not only are its fundamentals far from bottom, "this could be a single digit stock," Gami said.

    The analyst gave two reasons that the company still needs some time to bottom out. It has a long way to go in its effort to shift its revenue model away from advertising, and it still doesn't have clear visibility on future quarters.

    The psychological effect of the layoffs may be a bigger blow to the company than most anticipate, Gami added. "This kind of personnel issue can really eat away at a company from inside." The turnover in top management is likely to exacerbate the issue, he added.

  • Deutsche Banc Alex Brown's Andrea Williams Rice gave a more moderate response.

    "It could always get worse, but my sense is we're close to the bottom," Rice said.

    But asking whether the worst is over is only one of two questions investors should be asking following the Yahoo report. "The second key question is, 'when do we start to see a pick up?'" Rice said.

    At worst, the company's second quarter would be its trough, or low point. "We could tread water here for a while," she added.


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