Why Yahoo Came Up Short INVESTING
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By Conrad de Aenlle  It takes more than great technology to make a great technology company. Years after the millennium bubble burst, the lesson is still being learned - the easy way if you own stock inGoogle and the hard way if your money is in Yahoo.
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In Yahoo's third-quarter performance call yesterday, investors and analysts heard for the first time the lower-key, back-to-basics approach of co-founder and re-installed CEO Jerry Yang, and newly elevated president Susan Decker. There's evidence their strategy is already working, but the next move involves a carefully calculated approach to attracting customers that goes against the current trend.
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Plus: Matsushita profit up 22 percent...Amazon's profit up, margins squeezed...SAP cautious on 2008...Yahoo profit falls.
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Big Internet stocks have fallen  25 percent to 40 percent in the last quarter and haven't looked  cheaper in years. But despite expected strong year-end results,  many investors are likely to shy away in the short run.
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Why this familiar financial rule-of-thumb falls very, very short.
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Stunted growth may bring a good opportunity for investors.
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A peek at companies that overpromised and underdelivered.
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Yahoo&#39;s fourth-quarter revenue grew, but net income fell as the struggling Internet giant tried to put its house in order and improve its ability to compete against Google and other rivals.Revenue for the period, ended Dec. 31, came in at $1.832 billion, up 8 percent compared with 2006&#39;s fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday. Subtracting the commission that Yahoo pays to sites in its advertising network, revenue was $1.403 billion, up 14 percent but missing the $1.406 billion consensus expectation from financial analysts polled by Thomson Financial.Meanwhile, net income fell to $206 million, or $0.15 per share, from $269 million, or $0.19 per share. On a pro forma basis, which includes one-time items, net income was $280 million, or $0.20 per share, down from $297 million, or $0.21 per share. Analysts expected Yahoo to post earnings per share of $0.11.Yahoo&#39;s statement doesn&#39;t mention staff reductions, which the company is rumored to be mulling. The company will most likely field questions about layoffs in its earnings-release conference call Tuesday afternoon.
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The Yahoo bid is a dramatic statement from Microsoft, a company that delayed acknowledging the importance of emerging Web business models for so long.
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Microsoft may pay more !!!!! Yahoo! shares are worth more than Microsoft offered to pay for them last week. Even though when Microsoft made its offer to buy Yahoo! it included a 62 per cent premium Yahoo! shareholders are now better off selling their shares on the open market.â¦
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A hedge fund thinks Enzon's shares are undervalued, and here's why.
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Microsoft&#39;s offer Friday to buy Yahoo&#160;for $44.6 billion in cash and shares put a turbulent end to a heavy earnings week in which forecasts from Internet leaders worried IT investors.
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Yahoo&#39;s rejection of Microsoft&#39;s acquisition bid&#160;is likely a negotiating strategy to elicit a higher offer and shouldn&#39;t be seen as an attempt to resist a deal at all costs, according to analysts.Neither Microsoft nor Yahoo has many options to improve their position in online services and advertising, and combining forces is their best bet against common rival Google, analysts said.&quot;It&#39;s part of a larger negotiation that&#39;s occurring. Clearly, Yahoo should be and is seeking a higher bid, and this is part of that process,&quot; said Clayton Moran, a financial analyst with Stanford Group.Yahoo is unlikely to find a company willing to bid as much as Microsoft for it, while Microsoft will not be able to attain its Internet goals by acquiring a company other than Yahoo. &quot;While they need to negotiate and go through the process, at the end of the day this deal will happen,&quot; Moran said.On Monday, Yahoo rejected Microsoft&#39;s bid, saying it undervalues the company. Microsoft offered to pay $31 for half of Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. At the time of the offer, Microsoft&#39;s stock stood at $32.60 and the bid was valued at $44.6 billion, a 62 percent premium over Yahoo&#39;s stock price at the time. However, the bid&#39;s value has dropped with Microsoft&#39;s sliding stock price, which at press time was $28.10. At the same time, Yahoo&#39;s stock price has risen from a close of $19.18 on the day before the bid to $29.75 at press time.Moran predicted that Microsoft will adjust its offer so that it ends up at $35 per share, probably increasing the fixed cash portion and reducing the variable stock portion so that value is less vulnerable to Microsoft stock fluctuations. A $35-per-share offer would be a midpoint between the original bid and the $40 per share Yahoo is reportedly seeking.&quot;We continue to view a Yahoo sale to Microsoft as the most likely outcome,&quot; Citigroup financial analysts wrote in a note published Sunday after press reports over the weekend that Yahoo would reject the Microsoft bid. The rejection isn&#39;t surprising but rather is consistent with Yahoo&#39;s board job to &quot;extract maximum value&quot; for shareholders, the Citigroup analysts wrote.Yahoo has reportedly held talks with Google and AOL to explore alternatives to a Microsoft acquisition. One scenario being floated would be for Yahoo to outsource its search advertising business to Google, while another, reported Monday by The Times of London, has Yahoo and Time Warner&#39;s AOL discussing a possible merger.However, neither option would match the potential benefits of an acquisition by Microsoft, Moran said. &quot;A combined Yahoo-AOL wouldn&#39;t be particularly strong, and Yahoo&#39;s stock wouldn&#39;t react favorably to that deal,&quot; Moran said. A search partnership with Google would boost Yahoo&#39;s revenue, but it wouldn&#39;t address larger problems within the company, he said.For Moran, if Yahoo has approached AOL, it has done so probably to send a message to Microsoft that it has other options and that Microsoft has to sweeten its offer. Meanwhile, Google&#39;s intervention is probably directed at complicating and lengthening the negotiation process between Microsoft and Yahoo and thus delaying the formation of a stronger rival, Moran said.While merging with AOL is unlikely to give Yahoo the boost it needs, such a deal would probably be more palatable to Yahoo&#39;s management because Yahoo would be the strongest party in the fusion, according to industry analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.&quot;Yahoo sees its own demise in a Microsoft acquisition. My sense is that Yahoo&#39;s management believes that Yahoo&#39;s soul wouldn&#39;t survive as part of Microsoft,&quot; Sterling said.At this point, the situation is very complicated for both Microsoft and Yahoo. If Yahoo is intent on fending off Microsoft&#39;s advances at all costs, Microsoft could opt to walk away empty-handed and face a public embarrassment, or attempt a hostile takeover, which could alienate and scare away Yahoo employees it would want to retain, Sterling said.At the same time, Yahoo can&#39;t simply wave away a generous Microsoft offer if it doesn&#39;t have an alternative to it, Sterling said. &quot;There is a great deal at stake for both sides, and it&#39;s very complicated,&quot; he said.Microsoft declined to comment about Yahoo&#39;s rejection. AOL didn&#39;t immediately reply to a request for comment about its reported merger talks with Yahoo.
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Low-priced stocks can be cheap for a reason, but they can also present some great opportunities.
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Slumping Yahoo Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit dropped less than analysts feared, but management signaled the Internet icon's turnaround efforts may still take another year to pay off.
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While low-priced stocks can be cheap for a reason, they might also be overlooked opportunities.
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Put "buy low, sell high" in reverse -- and you're shorting stock.