Yahoo had a good day on the stock market, gaining a full 5.27 percent during normal trading hours. And – in what some may find to be a surprising development – it doesn’t seem set to drop much in after-hours trading as investors dissect the company’s first-quarter earnings report.
Although Yahoo’s numbers weren’t good, the key thing to remember is that many analysts practically expected them to be below zero. So with that in mind: revenue of $1.58 billion was down from $1.82 billion the same period last year. Earnings per share, meanwhile, were in the neighborhood of $0.08, compared to a previous standing of $0.38. And Yahoo reported $118.70 in net income, down from $536.77 million.
Carol Bartz stated as a result of all this, “Yahoo! is not immune to the ongoing economic downturn, but careful cost management in the first quarter allowed our operating cash flow to come in near the high end of our outlook range. While we experienced pressure in both display and search advertising in the first quarter, we believe Yahoo! remains one of the most compelling advertising buys on the Internet.”
It seems that Bartz has some ideas for getting costs under control, too. Yahoo announced that it’s preparing to lay off five percent of its workforce, which, given that the company’s got 13,600 fulltime employees, should equal around 680 individuals. Notices will go out within two weeks.
Yahoo’s stock is up 2.92 percent so far in after-hours trading.
