Yahoo Gets Stock Boost From “Outperform” Rating

Although this turned out to be a pretty "meh" day for the stock market as a whole - the Dow and S&P 500 slipped a little bit, while the Nasdaq didn't gain much - Yahoo investors should be feeling pleased.  Yahoo's stock rose by a significant amount as an analyst rated it "market outperform," up from "market perform."

Sameet Sinha of JMP Securities is the man who's responsible for making that change, and he attributed the move to Yahoo's relationship with Microsoft.  Sinha indicated that other experts will come to think better of the company, too, as additional financial models incorporate the deal.

Then here's another, more concrete, detail: Sinha set a price target of $21.  Since Yahoo's stock hasn't been that high since July of 2008, that would be a significant level.

As for the current price of Yahoo's stock, it's been very much on the move.  It rose 2.86 percent during the trading day, taking it from $16.06 to $16.52.

Again, then, this was a good day for Yahoo's shareholders.  Google's shareholders lost a small amount of money, meanwhile (its stock decreased 0.31 percent), and Microsoft's shareholders made an even smaller amount (its stock rose 0.15 percent).

Wall Street Turns Nose Up At Google Earnings Report

Google's latest earnings report is out, and the search giant did well during the fourth quarter of 2009, beating analysts' expectations.  The unfortunate thing (at least for shareholders) is that a lot of people must have wanted it to do better still, because the stock has taken a bit of a plunge in after-hours trading.

Let's start with the good news.  Google generated $4.95 billion in net revenue, topping a consensus estimate of $4.92 billion.  The company managed to report $6.79 in terms of earnings per share, too, even though even though it was supposed to post closer to $6.50.

Then here are a couple more interesting facts: as of December 31st, Google was sitting on top of $24.5 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities.  Things went well enough (and the outlook's bright enough) that it added 170 full-time employees during the fourth quarter, too.

And Eric Schmidt thinks his company is on the right track.  "Google had a strong fourth quarter, with 17% year over year revenue growth," he said in a statement.  "Given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery, this was an extraordinary end to the year. . . .  As we enter 2010, we remain hugely optimistic about the internet and are continuing to invest heavily in technological innovation for the benefit not only of our users and customers, but also the wider web."

Still, anyone who bought Google's stock just before the market closed and its earnings report came out has lost a significant amount of money; Google's stock is down 4.33 percent in after-hours trading at the moment.

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Yahoo Announces Weeklong Shutdown

This might or might not be an obvious point, but by unplugging their computers, shutting the lights off, and turning the heat down, people who leave their homes this holiday season stand to save a significant amount of money.  And now Yahoo should, too, as it's announced a decision to close corporate offices worldwide for one week.

Except for customer support centers, just about everything under Yahoo's control should go dark from December 25th through January 1st.  Since employees won't get paid for the time off unless they use vacation days (or local laws require it), Yahoo will save a lot there, too.

This is the first time Yahoo's ever mandated a shutdown of this nature, so it's fair to say that the move is a big deal.  There's no need for Yahoo's fans and shareholders to get panicky, however, since other companies, including Adobe and Apple, are in the habit of doing the same thing.

Also, as reported by Jessica E. Vascellaro, Yahoo actually told employees about the shutdown much earlier this year, so it's not like this is some sort of last-ditch effort to save money.

Just don't count on seeing much news relating to Yahoo between now and the second day of next year.

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Google (Again) At Center Of Tax Avoidance Accusations

Although it's hard to predict the split between thank you notes and hate mail, Google's accountants may be receiving a lot of letters over the next few days.  It looks like Google managed to avoid paying about $725 million in taxes in the UK last year.

Back in April, The Sunday Times determined that Google saved itself $160 million in 2007 thanks to its practice of channeling revenues through Ireland instead of Britain.  More than a few people protested the shuffle, arguing that Google wasn't playing fair.

Now, the objections have gotten more strenuous.  Vince Cable, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, told Robert Watts, "Avoidance like this is hard to stomach at the best of times.  But when the country is in recession and everyone is feeling the pain, it really sticks in the throat - it means higher taxes for the rest of us."

Cable then continued, "Google's reputation will be severely damaged if it continues to behave in this way.  It is ducking its social responsibility."

Google's shareholders are sure to appreciate these maneuvers, however, and everyone agrees that the company's actions aren't in any way illegal.

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