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Yahoo ( YHOO ) stock opened higher Wednesday after the company late Tuesday assured investors it’s working diligently to find a buyer for its core, and perhaps other, businesses. Executives didn’t give any specifics, however, and its Q2 revenue outlook fell short of Wall Street estimates, as the Web company continues to cut costs. CFO Ken Goldman said the company’s headcount, including contractors, was down to 9,200, which it said is down 42% from the start of 2012. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney hiked his price target on Yahoo stock to 38 from 33, citing the rise of its Asian assets and his sum-of-its-parts analysis of the company. But he maintained his market perform rating on Yahoo stock. Most analysts maintained the equivalent of neutral ratings and maintained their price targets. Yahoo stock was up 2.5%, above 37, in early trading in the stock market today . “We are moving forward at the fastest possible pace,” Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said on the company’s earnings conference call last Tuesday. Verizon Communications ( VZ ), which bought AOL last year for $4.4 billion, is widely considered to be the front-runner for Yahoo’s core business. It’s uncertain what Yahoo will do with its 15% stake in China e-commerce leader Alibaba ( BABA ) or its big stake in Yahoo Japan. Late Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that besides Verizon, bidders include U.K. publisher Daily Mail, buyout firm TPG and an investor group that included Bain Capital, Vista Equity Partners and former Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinsohn. Mayer, then a top executive with Google (now part of Alphabet ( GOOGL )), was chosen over Levinsohn and others for the top spot at Yahoo in 2012. Private-equity firms, Silver Lake and Advent International also expressed interest in bidding, the WSJ said. Yahoo continues to attract more than 1 billion unique visitors a month to its online properties, long among the leaders on that score, but it’s spent a decade failing to spark much, if any, revenue growth. Yahoo Revenue Declines Accelerating For Q1, Yahoo said its earnings per share minus items fell 47% to 8 cents from 15 cents in Q1 2015, but analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected just 7 cents. Revenue fell 11% to $1.09 billion, just above the $1.08 billion that analysts had expected. For Q2, the company forecast revenue of $1.05 billion to $1.09 billion, down 14% at the midpoint and lagging consensus views of $1.102 billion. Facebook ( FB ) and Alphabet continue to gain in mobile and digital advertising at the expense of Yahoo and others. Cowen analyst John Blackledge, in a research note, pointed out the company posted a deceleration in mobile revenue growth and in growth for what its calls MAVENs, referring to the higher-growth areas of mobile, social, video and native advertising. He maintained a 32 price target on Yahoo stock. Yahoo did say MAVENs accounted for 38% of its total traffic-driven revenue, up from 33% in Q1 2015. William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart kept his market perform rating, citing “Yahoo’s weak core business fundamentals,” in a research note. “Yahoo’s search business continues to experience headwinds from declining desktop traffic, with paid clicks down 21% year over year in the first quarter after being down 10% last quarter,” Schackart wrote. “Further, search partnerships and increased affiliate traffic have caused traffic acquisition costs to grow at a faster rate than gross revenue, resulting in net search revenue declining 21% year over year in the first quarter.” Scalper1 News
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