Yahoo!'s Quarterly Results to Face Scrutiny

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- As Yahoo! (YHOO) gets set to report second-quarter earnings after the close of trading Tuesday, it wants to place the focus back on its core business and monetizing its Asian assets instead of the circus outside events have become, especially now that Marissa Mayer has been named its new CEO

Since Yahoo! reported solid first-quarter earnings, it's been a tumultuous few months. Scott Thompson stepped down as CEO, Yahoo! reconfigured its board, and was recently the subject of a major hacking scandal.

J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth said he thinks there could be a stabilization, or even a potential upside to search spending for Yahoo! in the second quarter.

"Our SEM checks indicate some search spend shift to Yahoo!/Bing in 2Q based on better broad match and ad tools for advertisers. However, comScore data suggest Yahoo!'s search share losses continued in 2Q, and RPS gains are still unlikely to drive monetization beyond existing RPS guarantees. We forecast search net revenue of $374M (+1% Y/Y) with accelerating growth in 2H12," Anmuth wrote in a research note. He rated shares neutral with a $17 price target.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Yahoo! to report earnings of 23 cents a share on $1.095 billion in revenue. Independent analysts polled by Estimize are looking for 22 cents a share on $1.085 billion in revenue.

Yahoo! was operating without a permanent CEO since Thompson resigned, until the board appointed Mayer after the close of trading Monday. Mayer, 37, comes with a wealth of engineering experience, having been one of the people who helped turn Google (GOOG) into the dominant Internet company it is today.

Marissa Mayer Is a Bad Choice for Yahoo!

ThinkEquity analyst Ronal Josey said he believes the key to finally getting Yahoo! firmly on track could start with naming a permanent CEO, which it has finally done with the appointment of Mayer.

"While Yahoo! has made progress recently around monetizing its stake in Alibaba Group, agreeing on a new Facebook partnership, and launching new products like Axis and Genome, we believe that until a permanent CEO is announced can the Enterprise move forward. Our checks suggest marketers have withheld some spend on Yahoo! as a result and we will be looking for any signs of a turn-around within Yahoo!'s sales organization," Josey said in a research note. He rated shares hold with a $17 price target.

Investors will be keen to hear if Yahoo! has any update on the monetization of its stake in Alibaba. In May, Yahoo! announced a plan to sell a portion of its stake in the Chinese Internet company, but nothing has been finalized.

Finalizing the deal, Anmuth noted, "could be a catalyst for Yahoo! shares as concerns likely remain around funding and valuation."

Shares of Yahoo! closed at $15.65 on Monday.

Interested in more on Yahoo!? See TheStreet Ratings' report card for this stock.

Check out our new tech blog, Tech Trends. Follow TheStreet Tech on your wireless devices.

--Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York

>Contact by Email.

Follow @Commodity_Bull