Yahoo! Inc. expects sales to meet analysts’ estimates

Yahoo! Inc. announced that the company expects its first-quarter sales to fail to reach some analysts estimates. At the same time, Marissa Mayer, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the company is trying to turn user growth at the Web portal into money for advertising.

Yahoo! Made an official statement today, saying that its sales, excluding revenue passed to partner sites, is forecast to be between 1.06 and 1.1 billion dollars in the current quarter. The average analysts projections estimated the companys revenue to 1.09 billion dollars.

Ms. Mayer became Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo! In July 2012 after working for Google Inc. She is currently trying to bring a new life to companys growth amid Google Inc.s and Facebook Inc.s rivalry. According to EMarketer Inc. the digital ad business of Yahoo! in the U.S. Will expand to 4% in 2014. Last year the share price of the company doubled, and the increase was mostly attributed to Yahoo!s stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The companys shares fell by 6.9% and reached 35.60 dollars in extended trading. Yahoos stock increased by 4.3% to 38.22 dollars at the close of the New York Stock Exchange. A 24%-stake in Alibaba, which is currently considering an initial public offering, is held by Yahoo.

One of the analysts working for BGC Partners – Colin Gillis – said in a statement cited by Bloomberg: “Its a dismal outlook. Theres going to be more pressure to perform as the year progresses.”

Yahoo!s CEO Mayer said during a conference call today that reaching a desirable level of growth will take years. Ms. Mayer also explained that she is looking forward to accelerating the recovery of the company, which is the reason why she has boosted investments in engineering, shuttered underperforming services and focused on attracting users with more engaging products. A risky bet was also made by her in 2013 by spending 1.1 billion dollars on Tumblr Inc., which is a blogging site with little revenue.

Yahoos Chief Executive Officer said in her conference call and was cited by Bloomberg: “ In 2013, we built a foundation for growth. Im very pleased with our progress.”

According to CNN Money, the current share price of Yahoo! Inc. is 4.28% up, and its one-year return rate is 5.49% down. The 29 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Yahoo! Inc. have a median target of 38.00, with a high estimate of 52.00 and a low estimate of 26.00. The median estimate represents a -0.58% decrease from the last price of 38.22.