Yahoo Earnings: Not Great, But Not as Bad as Some Expected

Revenues, profits fall, but beat Wall Street estimates; online display advertising up

Yahoo’s first quarter earnings were released on Tuesday — and while they weren't great, they beat, however narrowly, Wall Street’s expectations.

The portal’s overall revenue was $1.064 billion, down 6 percent over the first quarter of 2010. But its adjusted earnings per share shot up 15 cents.

Yahoo's first quarter net income fell to $223 million, compared to $310.2 million during the same period last year, meaning the company's net profit fell 28 percent — still, a better result than analysts were expecting.

According to Barron's, Yahoo's shares shot up 3 percent on the news in after-market trading.

“We are solidly executing toward our plan for returning Yahoo to sustainable revenue and profit growth,” Yahoo chief Carol Bartz said in a statement accompanying the results.

A big sign of hope for Bartz and Yahoo: online display advertising revenue jumped 6 percent to $522.6 million during the quarter.

Bartz noted that the Super Bowl "drove more than 37 million [page views]," doubling traffic over 2010. Coverage of the Oscars, she said, "drove more than one billion page views," a 23 percent increase over the prior year.

Click here for the full earnings release.

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