Shares of Yahoo (YHOO) jumped more than 11% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, after the company reported better-than-expected Q1’14 profit that topped most analyst forecasts. Overall, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based web giant reported net earnings of $312 million on revenues of $1.14 billion. Analysts projected an adjusted profit of $0.37 a share and total revenue of $1.08 billion. Yahoo said revenue in the three months ended in March, excluding traffic and acquisition costs, grew 1% to $1.087 billion, up from $1.074 billion a year ago. Q1 earnings excluding items yielded EPS of $0.38 per share, a penny better than expected.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer hailed the results as showing growth in the Web portal’s “core” business.
Q1’14 data “was an early and important sign of growth in our core business”, Mayer said in Tuesday’s announcement. “And, with mobile pivotal to our future growth, we’re delighted to now see more than 430 million monthly mobile users [a 30% jump y/y] accessing Yahoo’s new products.”
Yahoo also said revenue and profits from Alibaba Group in the December quarter, the Chinese e-commerce giant in which Yahoo owns a 24% stake, jumped 66% higher to $3.1 billion generating a 110% increase to $1.4 billion in net income attributable to Yahoo.
Yahoo’s stock price is up almost 120% since Mayer took over as CEO in 2012, but some analysts see Alibaba’s results as the main driver behind Yahoo’s share price performance.
Price action: In pre-market trading, YHOO is up $2.39, or 6.99%, to $36.60.
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