Yahoo! shares recover 5% after beating the Street

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) shares are trying to bounce back after falling from grace this past year, but can the rally keep going after losing $303 million last quarter?

If not for restructuring charges this quarter, Yahoo said it would have earned 17 cents per share — besting the average estimate of 13 cents per share among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Yahoo earned $206 million, or 15 cents this past quarter with revenue dipping 1%, to $1.8 billion, from a year ago.

"This is a fantastic Internet company that does not need to be pulled apart," Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz told analysts in a conference call Tuesday. "I didn't come here to sell the company." She did not, however, rule out selling assets of Yahoo.

Yahoo cautioned that its first-quarter revenue will range from $1.53 billion to $1.73 billion — down from $1.82 billion last year. It did not project its earnings for the first quarter, this is a first for Yahoo dodging the guidance.

So what can we expect going forward and can shares make a comeback?

Things could have been worse, much worse, for all of 2008, Yahoo earned $424 million, or 29 cents per share, on revenue of $7.2 billion. That compared with income of $660 million, or 47 cents per share, on revenue of $7 billion in 2007.  Let the analysts dig into Yahoo's earnings call, there's time to make a position with the economy so beat down.

theStreet.com gives their analysis: