NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (QIHU) are higher by 5.23% to $49.87 in late morning trading on Friday, ahead of the company's fourth quarter 2014 earnings report which is scheduled to be released after the market close on Monday afternoon.

Analysts are expecting the China-based Internet company, involved in the operations of Internet services and sales of third party anti-virus software, to post a year-over-year increase in earnings and revenue for the most recent quarter.

Qihoo 360 Technology has been forecast to report earnings of 72 cents per share on revenue of $417.44 million for the 2014 fourth quarter.

Last year, Qihoo said its fiscal 2013 fourth quarter non-GAAP earnings were 70 cents per share on revenue of $221.6 million. Earnings for the year ago fourth quarter increased from the same period the year before.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates QIHOO 360 TECHNOLGY CO -ADR as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate QIHOO 360 TECHNOLGY CO -ADR (QIHU) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our 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 robust revenue growth, notable return on equity and impressive record of earnings per share growth. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and generally higher debt management risk."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• QIHU's very impressive revenue growth greatly exceeded the industry average of 18.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues leaped by 100.3%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share.
• QIHOO 360 TECHNOLGY CO -ADR has improved earnings per share by 29.4% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. This trend suggests that the performance of the business is improving. During the past fiscal year, QIHOO 360 TECHNOLGY CO -ADR increased its bottom line by earning $0.76 versus $0.40 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.43 versus $0.76).
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500, but is less than that of the Internet Software & Services industry average. The net income increased by 29.8% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $44.46 million to $57.70 million.
• Currently the debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72 is quite high overall and when compared to the industry average, suggesting that the current management of debt levels should be re-evaluated. Despite the company's weak debt-to-equity ratio, the company has managed to keep a very strong quick ratio of 4.05, which shows the ability to cover short-term cash needs.
• QIHU's stock share price has done very poorly compared to where it was a year ago: Despite any rallies, the net result is that it is down by 56.44%, which is also worse that the performance of the S&P 500 Index. Investors have so far failed to pay much attention to the earnings improvements the company has managed to achieve over the last quarter. Although its share price is down sharply from a year ago, do not assume that it can now be tagged as cheap and attractive. The reality is that, based on its current price in relation to its earnings, QIHU is still more expensive than most of the other companies in its industry.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: QIHU Ratings Report