Yahoo Q4 Profit Surges but Falls Shy of Forecast
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), the world's largest Internet media company, Tuesday said quarterly net profit surged, aided by a gain on a Chinese investment, but fell shy of Wall Street's average forecast.
Net income for the fourth quarter rose to $683 million, or 46 cents per diluted share, from $373 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier, when it was aided by an investment gain. The most recent quarter included a big investment gain. Gross revenue rose 39 percent to $1.50 billion.
Excluding one-time items tied to its Chinese business, the company reported adjusted net income of $247 million, or 16 cents per diluted share, in the latest quarter.
The prior year included a gain of $185 million, or 13 cents a share, on the sale of an early stake in Google Inc (GOOG). Excluding the gain, year-ago net income was $197 million, or 13 cents per share.
Excluding one-time items, the Wall Street consensus estimate was 17 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates, within a range of 15 cents to 20 cents. Including items, analysts, on average, predicted 22 cents a share.
Revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, rose 36 percent to $1.07 billion from $785 million.
Analysts expected consensus revenue, excluding traffic acquisition, to grow nearly 37 percent to $1.07 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Traffic acquisition refers to revenue paid out to affiliated Web sites that run Yahoo advertising on their own sites.













