Final Bids For Yahoo! (YHOO) Due Today, CNBC's Josh Lipton Reports

CNBC's Josh Lipton joined CNBC's 'Squawk Alley' Monday morning to discuss the earnings reports, and bidding for Yahoo (YHOO).
By Giovanni Bruno ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Yahoo!  (YHOO) is scheduled to report earnings after the market close on Monday, but with reports that final bids for buying the company have to be submitted by the end of the day, the focus remains on the future. CNBC's Josh Lipton discussed the earnings report, and potential sale on today's "Squawk Alley" from San Francisco.

In reference to the company's earnings, Lipton cited Senior Research Analyst at Raymond James Financial, Aaron Kessler.

"If you look at our estimates, were still looking for search to decline about 18% on a year [over] year basis, display revenues a little more stable down about 2% year over year. And looking for a lot of headwinds on the Yahoo core business," Kessler said in a past interview with CNBC.

"Analyst believe Yahoo! will report EPS of 10 cents on revenue of $1.08 billion," Lipton said. These numbers represent year over year declines of 39% and 13% respectively.

Several companies remain interested in Yahoo and a deal is likely to be made for the Internet giant.

"Recode reporting that final bids from Verizon Communications (VZ), Quicken Loans, and several private equity firms are due today," Lipton said. Investors are betting a sale happens sooner rather than later, which is why the stock has seen a 30% increase in the past six months, Lipton added. 

"SunTrust Robinson Humphrey's Bob Peck tells me he does think Yahoo gets sold for some $6 billion, to either one or multiple bidders, with Verizon being the most likely winner," Lipton reported.

"One wrinkle in the potential sale however remains," Lipton said about the company having to owe Mozilla $1 billion, and thus place increased pressure on bidders.

"Despite that, Peck does believe the company gets sold, and the deal closes in the in the second half of this year," Lipton concluded.

Shares of Yahoo! are higher by 0.48% ti $37.90 on Monday afternoon.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings rates Yahoo! as a "Hold" with a score of "C-."  The primary factors that have impacted TheStreet Ratings rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. 

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, good cash flow from operations and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, TheStreet Ratings also finds weaknesses including deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and feeble growth in the company's earnings per share.

TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. 

You can view the full analysis from the report here: YHOO

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