Hold Your Excitement on Yahoo!

Not so fast, Yahoo! bulls.

There is a sense that the worst has passed. There is a sense that the page has been turned on an ugly and depressing chapter in the history of the Internet giant.

There may even be a sense of relief over at Google , where the geeks in charge are idealistic enough to trade in a certain monopoly on search in exchange for a sharp competitor who can prod them into developing even better technology.

It would be easy to believe that Yahoo! has turned a corner and that it's all recovery and rallies from here on out. Even after Thursday's tumbling in tech stocks, Yahoo! shares were still about 4% higher than where they closed before Tuesday's fourth-quarter earnings report.

But while Yahoo! has very likely turned a corner, it's too early to get that bullish.

First of all, Yahoo's earnings-inspired 7% surge on Wednesday put it at its highest level since Jan. 18. So if you bought shares last week, went on vacation and just got back in the office today, you could be down on your trade. That's not exactly a rally -- it's more of a short squeeze.

I'm not saying it's over for Yahoo!. I don't buy or sell stocks, but I find myself rooting for or against companies, and I've been rooting for Yahoo! Why? There are a lot of seeds of ideas that could bear fruit for customers and investors alike if they would only take root.