Yahoo posts higher profit

Yahoo Inc. delivered first-quarter results that surpassed analysts’ modest expectations, but the performance might not be enough to fortify the Internet pioneer’s defense against Microsoft Corp.’s takeover bid.
The Sunnyvale-based company said Tuesday that it earned $542.2 million, or 37 cents per share, more than tripling from its profit of $142.4 million, or 10 cents per share, at the same time last year.
Most of the first-quarter improvement stemmed from a one-time gain of $401 million generated by Yahoo’s stake in the parent company of Alibaba.com, a leading e-commerce site in China.
If not for the Alibaba windfall, Yahoo would have earned 11 cents per share – comparable to its profit at the same time last year, on an apples-to-apples basis.
The results were 2 cents above the average estimate among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Revenue climbed 9 percent to $1.82 billion.
After subtracting commissions paid to Yahoo’s advertising partners, the revenue totaled $1.35 billion – just $30 million ahead of analysts’ average projection.
Perhaps even more importantly, Yahoo didn’t raise its revenue outlook for the remainder of the year. That could be good news for Microsoft, which has been betting that its takeover bid would become irresistible if Yahoo can’t substantially accelerate its growth amid the decaying U.S. economy.
In other first-quarter earnings reported Tuesday:
•Strong international sales helped McDonald’s Corp. post a 24 percent gain in profit, but investors seemed nervous about the company’s first monthly decline of U.S. same-store sales in five years. The fast food behemoth easily topped Wall Street forecasts when executives said it earned $946.1 million, or 81 cents per share, during the January-to-March period. That’s up from $762.4 million, or 62 cents per share, during the same period last year. Revenue climbed 6 percent to $5.6 billion.
•JetBlue Airways Corp. reported a narrower-than-expected loss as slower growth helped the discount airline keep a lid on its costs despite skyrocketing fuel prices. JetBlue, based in Forest Hills, N.Y., said it lost $8 million, or 4 cents a share, during the first three months of 2008, an improvement from the loss of $22 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $816 million from $608 million in the first quarter of 2007, a 34 percent increase.
•Chemicals company DuPont said profits increased 26 percent as strong sales of farming chemicals and seeds and brisk business overseas offset a slowdown in the U.S. economy. Wilmington-based DuPont reported earnings of $1.19 billion, or $1.31 per share, up from $945 million, or $1.01, a year earlier. Excluding a charge in the prior year’s quarter, earnings per share increased 22 percent, the company said.
•AK Steel Holding Corp. said that soaring global steel prices and favorable labor contracts enabled the company to beat Wall Street forecasts with profits up more than 60 percent from a year earlier. The company makes flat-rolled carbon steel, stainless and electrical steel and carbon and stainless tubular products used in cars and appliances. The steelmaker reported net income of $101.1 million, or 90 cents a share, for the period ended March 31, compared with $62.7 million, or 56 cents, a year earlier. Results from the same period in 2007 included a pretax, non-cash pension charge of $15.1 million. Quarterly sales totaled $1.79 billion, compared with $1.72 billion a year ago.