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Yahoo clears low Q1 bar

CEO Scott Thompson, presiding over his first full quarter as the new boss, is expected to map out details of his plans for Yahoo.
Written by Charles Cooper, Contributor

Update:1:42 PM P.T. As investors braced to learn about the CEO's plan to revive the company, Yahoo reported a 38% increase in first quarter net income on basically flat revenues compared with a year earlier. The company said that revenue, minus traffic acquisition costs, was $1.077 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

That's just a 1 percent increase over the first quarter of 2011. Income from operations decreased 11 percent to $169 million in the first quarter of 2012, compared to $190 million in the first quarter of 2011. Still, that qualified as a "beat the Street" performance as analysts had projected flat earnings. Following the publication of the earnings report investors seized on the news to send the stock up nearly 4% in after-hours trading.

Long-term, Wall Street may care less about this particular set of numbers than what happens during the conference call which follows where CEO Scott Thompson, presiding over his first full quarter as the new boss, is expected to map out details of his plans for Yahoo.

Revenue highlights:

  • Display revenue ex-TAC: $454 million, a 4 percent decrease compared to $471 million for the first quarter of 2011.
  • GAAP display revenue: $511 million, a 2 percent decrease compared to $523 million for the first quarter of 2011. Search revenue ex-TAC: $384 million, an 8 percent increase compared to $357 million for the first quarter of 2011.
  • GAAP search revenue: $470 million, a 3 percent increase compared to $455 million for the first quarter of 2011.

Cash flow and cash balance

  • Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter of 2012: $297 million, a 45 percent increase compared to $206 million for the same period of 2011.
  • Free cash flow: $196 million for the first quarter of 2012, a 247 percent increase compared to $56 million for the same period of 2011.
  • Cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable debt securities: $2,65 billion at March 31, 2012 compared to $2.53 billion at December 31, 2011, an increase of $122 million.
  • During the first quarter of 2012, Yahoo! repurchased 5 million shares for $71 million.

"In the first quarter, Yahoo!'s results came in at the high end of our guidance range and beat consensus on revenue and profits," Thompson said in a prepared statement. "We also made changes to resize the organization and establish a new leadership structure to quickly deliver the best user and advertiser experiences at scale."

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