Good Ship Yahoo! Sails Past Earnings Estimates

Internet bellwether Yahoo! (YHOO) reported first-quarter pro forma earnings of 10 cents a share, a penny better than the 24-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago pro forma 3 cents a share. Yahoo! said first-quarter sales more than doubled, while earnings more than tripled and traffic to its Web site increased sharply.

The company also said it named Susan Decker as its new CFO, replacing Gary Valenzuela, who will retire in July. Decker was formerly global head of research at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ).

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Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown priced 5.1 million shares of I3 Mobile (IIIM) at $16 each, the top of the expected $14 to $16 range. The Stamford, Conn.-based company provides stock prices , traffic and other news on wireless devices.

In other postclose news (Earnings estimates from First Call/Thomson Financial; earnings reported on a diluted basis unless otherwise specified.):

Earnings/revenue reports and previews

Beyond.com (BYND) said it will take a higher-than-expected restructuring charge of $11 million to $14 million in the first quarter. In January, Beyond.com cut about 20% of its workforce and consolidated its satellite offices in a bid to focus on the B2B market.

Hot Topic (HOTT) said same-store sales rose 19.6% in March.

Gap (GPS) said March same-store sales were down 11% compared with a sharp 21% increase a year ago. Gap also said COO John Wilson had resigned.

Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) posted first-quarter earnings of 11 cents a share, above the 12-analyst estimate of 5 cents and the year-ago pro forma loss of 2 cents. The company said its first-quarter net income included an additional $8 million, or 5 cents a share, from the effect of a change in depreciation lives of certain assets.

RFS Hotel Investors (RFS) said it expects first-quarter results to at least meet analyst expectations. The six-analyst estimate calls for earnings of 48 cents. RFS also said its CFO and executive vice president Mike Pascal has resigned his position effective July.

Salon.com (SALN) warned of a wider-than-expected loss for its fourth-quarter, due largely to the departure of a key sales executive. The company said it expects to report a loss for the quarter of 35 to 42 cents a share on revenue of $2.5 million to $2.9 million. The current three-analyst expected loss is for 33 cents a share.

Sawtek (SAWS) said it expects second-quarter earnings to be higher than consensus estimates because of higher revenue. Sawtek said it sees earnings of 29 cents compared with the year-ago 17 cents. The seven-analyst estimate is for 24 cents a share.

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

Dime Bancorp (DME) said a New York judge barred Salomon Smith Barney from advising North Fork Bancorp (NFB) in a $2 billion hostile bid for Dime until next month. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Dime last week in which it contended that Salomon was prohibited from advising North Fork under a 1997 confidentiality agreement signed between the investment bank and Dime in connection with another acquistion. Salomon, a unit of Citigroup (C), said it will appeal the decision.

Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR) said it agreed to merge with privately held Dollar Express. Under terms of the agreement, Dollar Tree will issue or reserve 6 million shares for Dollar Express' outstanding stock and assume all liabilities. The stock-for-stock transaction will be accounted for as a pooling-of-interests deal and is expected to close by the end of the month. Dollar Tree also reported that its first-quarter same-store sales rose 4.6%.

Peregrine Systems (PRGN), a provider of infrastructure management software, said it signed a definitive pact to acquire Harbinger (HRBC) in a stock deal valued at $2.1 billion. Harbinger provides B2B e-commerce delivery solutions. The deal is structured as a stock swap at a ratio of 0.75 shares of Peregrine common stock for each share of Harbinger.

Miscellany

Borg Warner Automotive (BWA) said it expects to divest two noncore business units and use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including repurchasing its stock. The two units, Fuel Systems and Kysor-Westran HVAC, generated revenue of about $165 million in 1999.

Fidelity Investments' (FMAGX)Magellan Fund was knocked from its perch as the largest U.S. mutual fund by the (VFINX)Vanguard 500 Index Fund. As of last night, the Vanguard 500 had assets of $107.2 billion and the Magellan Fund had assets of $106.9 billion.

Alaska's governor Tony Knowles said he expects Exxon Mobil (XOM) to drop its lawsuit against BP Amoco (BPA) over the British oil giant's sale of Alaskan oil assets to Philips Petroleum (P).

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