Stock Picks: Yahoo, Amazon
From Businesweeks

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO)
Citigroup reiterates buy; raises estimate
Yahoo Inc., owner of the second-most-used Internet search engine in the U.S., reported fourth-quarter sales that topped analysts’ estimates after the close of trading Jan. 26. Excluding revenue passed on to partner sites, sales were $1.26 billion. The company’s total sales fell 4.1% to $1.73 billion, yet still edged out its own forecast of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.
Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney said on Jan. 27 that Yahoo’s $1.73 billion in gross revenue and $457 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, beat his respective estimates of $1.66 billion and $427 million and Wall Street consensus views of $1.67 billion and $433 million; Yahoo’s GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of 11 cents was in line with his estimate as well as the street consensus view. Mahaney said in a note that Yahoo’s first-quarter guidance was mixed vs. the Street estimate: the company’s midpoint gross revenue forecast of $1.63 billion topped the Street expectation at $1.61 billion, but its midpoint EBITDA forecast of $365 million missed the Street projection at $400 million.
Mahaney said the big story for Yahoo is display advertising, which surged 26% quarter-over-quarter to $503 million. He noted that most (though not all) of the company’s ad verticals are recovering, pricing is “firming up”, and Yahoo has key inventory for advertisers.
The analyst kept his 2010 EPS estimate at 47 cents, but raised his 53 cents forecast for 2011 to 56 cents. He has a $22 price target on the shares.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)

Kaufman Bros. upgrades to buy from hold
Kaufman Bros. analyst Aaron Kessler raised his rating on shares of Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. on Jan. 27. He said in a note that the stock has corrected 15% from recent highs, and he believes it now offers an attractive risk/reward for investors.
Kessler said he expects Amazon to post strong fourth quarter results on Jan. 28, adding that his GAAP EPS estimate of 77 cents is 7% above the Wall Street consensus view. He also expects Amazon to continue to gain market share, “driven by its value proposition of low prices, free shipping, high trust factor, and added selection”.
The analyst maintained a $155 price target on the stock, indicating “approximately 30% upside” from current levels.
How to make money with Amazon
You may not realize it but there are a number of ways you can cash in with Amazon.com. The way you choose as being the best one for you will largely depend on what you are already doing, and that’s where this particular blog comes in.
By doing this you will find that you can take advantage of the sheer amount of traffic and respectability that this website commands all over the world. It’s a lot like eBay in this respect – a lot of the hard work is done for you.
One of the best things about Amazon is that everyone can make some money with it if they want to, because it has a number of options to choose from. You will no doubt have heard about the Advantage program, which is ideal if you already have published books (no matter whether they are self published or through a conventional publisher) as you can get them listed on Amazon by following the instructions they give you in the Advantage program. This method also enables you to use On Demand publishing to minimize the risk of self publishing stacks of books that may not be sold.
But there is a lot more to Amazon than that. If affiliate marketing is more up your street, then take a look at their Associates program, which allows you to recommend customers to various products in order to make sales on them. The program is very well put together and as you would probably expect from such a major site there is a lot of information to read through as well.
Once you have signed up for free, you should make the effort to explore everything the site offers you. You will see that you can create banners, ads and much more to enhance your site – and this even extends to the colors you pick for your ads.
But one area you should definitely look at is the potential to create what they call an aStore. There are examples of these given on Amazon itself, and while they are quite basic in nature they do allow you to create web pages that are centered around a particular theme. So for example if your website is about golf, you can create an aStore which is stocked with the best books on golf and golfing.
This can be linked to from your main website or blog, giving an extra dimension to your site and giving you the opportunity to make more money from it as a result.
You can also select which colors you wish to use for these pages (you can build many more than just one!) so it will look exactly the same as your main website. You will need a website to join the program and they will vet it to make sure it is suitable for inclusion (but don’t worry, most are – it’s only the obvious types of exclusions that will apply) but this doesn’t even have to be one you pay for; people have got in by having a well constructed page or site from a free provider.
There is the potential to make a lot of money from the Associates program in particular, and it’s great to use if you have a whole range of websites since you can take advantage of the wide range of products they stock – it’s not just books and DVDs!
So if you are looking for a way to monetize the site or sites you have now, hotfoot it to Amazon and sign up for free. It is one of the best ways to start making some money by offering quality products at great prices.
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