I currently own some YHOO myself, but I kind of thought of this as an un-popular holding and was a little surprised to see so many people holding this on Zecco (i guess its a tech name though so it shouldn't be too surprising). GOOG has been king in search and probably will continue to be for the next few years...

But....the reason I like YHOO is fairly simple and revolves around the user experience. I have literally noticed that their search engine seems to work much better than google. Now don't get all crazy you google lovers, I still use google myself and it usually does the trick just fine. But, when I have a more obscure search and can't find it on google I can often find it right away on Yahoo. Their new Panama search engine seems to have improved their search quality quite a bit, and I think they will continue to see accelerating and incremental gains from it.

I think this eventually will help sway investors to their side of the ring over the next few years...plus some new management (no more Terry Semel), you had some Insider buying back in August, and their have been plenty of rumors flying around about potential consolidation (merger, buyout, etc.).

Main concerns I have about the stock (but obviously not concerned enough to sell): It's PEG is 53/24 compared to 43/33 for GOOG. Not sure why there would be a premium for YHOO but there is currently. On the flipside, it's at a P/S ratio of 6 compared to GOOG's 12. My other concern; slowing top-line growth - 45% in 2005, 22% in 2006, and 10% over the last 12 trailing months.

Technically speaking, right now its near its 52 wk low and at a key support level and has just started to gain some positive momentum, so if you've been waiting to get in, now would probably be a good time to start picking up some shares. I'd average in though in case it falls through support.

I personally enjoy yahoo over google myself. I'm not ready to purchase yhoo yet, I think it might have a new 52 wk low here soon. I'll take another look in early 08 at yhoo.

I agree that the Yahoo experience is better. A lot of people have counted them out, but I don't see the logic in that. There is room for yahoo.

elderzap:

I agree that the Yahoo experience is better. A lot of people have counted them out, but I don't see the logic in that. There is room for yahoo.

Sure GOOG is hardcore strong right now. But lets look at a simple example. Mr. Payton Manning and a Mr. Eli Manning. Brothers yes. Payton is strong/ better (aka GOOG) but hey! theres room in the NFL for Eli (YHOO) also. Share the love!

Yahoo ..Good to use on PC's ..but Bad thing for short term investors and it has a threshold of 30...The only stock i have been struggling to stop my losses...

I rather suggest to take a chance in investing other hot stocks like solar or better put Money in Highyield rather than buying this yahoo thingy

I watch the yahoo building everyday from my apartment i feel soo bad :)

Watch the Traffic details for Yahoo its Number 1 But donno whats wrong with it

http://www.alexa.com/

Wall Street has really fallen out of love with YHOO in the last few years for a variety of reasons, but mostly due to GOOG's utter dominance. It often takes quite awhile to turn a situation like this around. I do agree there is room for other players besides GOOG in the online ad space. That's interesting that all of you prefer Yahoo's search engine. I haven't used it in years.

It seems to me the stock is still vulnerable to further downside at 48x forward earnings. We'll know more after it reports this week. While online advertising is one of the best growth industries out there, I'm sure it's still somewhat susceptible to a U.S. recession.

My preference when investing is always to invest in the "best of breed" which would clearly be GOOG in this business. But if you're all correct that YHOO is turning a corner then there may be money to be made here. Just be careful though because as Buffett says "the problem with turnarounds is that they seldom turn".

Its been getting hit hard recently. I'm always looking for a good buy, how long should I wait to buy? Or should I buy at all?

There's a metaphor that buying a falling stock is like trying to catch a falling knife... It's dangerous. YHOO is a falling knife. I wouldn't touch it until a turnaround is well underway (and even then, I'm sure there will be better opportunities elsewhere).

I don't even follow YHOO closely but from reading about their most recent earnings report it's clear they're losing market share and growth is slowing. They're laying off workers and they're now saying a turnaround won't happen until 2009. They said the same thing two years ago about 2007. In short, Wall Street's hatred of the stock seems pretty justified until we see actual evidence that things are getting better.

bnor24:

There's a metaphor that buying a falling stock is like trying to catch a falling knife... It's dangerous. YHOO is a falling knife. I wouldn't touch it until a turnaround is well underway (and even then, I'm sure there will be better opportunities elsewhere).

I have to laugh that I posted this yesterday.... what timing! Sorry Andy! I had heard rumors of a MSFT buyout for ages but didn't take it seriously. I suppose MSFT's need to step up to GOOG made this move necessary.

What will happen to the prices of yahoo stock and microsoft stock if microsoft buys out yahoo? Will it make a difference if there is a hostile takeover?