Yahoo Inc. is forecasting a modest upturn in revenue for 2013, but Chief Executive Marissa Mayer warns that it may take a lot of work to get there. The company, with new CEO Mayer, plans to overhaul a dozen of its online services to try to increase the amount of time that users spend on their sites.
As Mayer recently said, “While the road to growth is certain, it will not be immediate.” Yahoo does predict that their revenue will grow at a rate of .7% to 3% for the year ahead, ranging between $4.5 billion and $4.6 billion for 2013.
As Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter said, “What was clear from the call is that this is a long-term turnaround story. We shouldn’t expect anything to just snap back and correct itself.”
Mayer said that the Yahoo efforts to revamp their mobile properties, including Flickr, are definitely on track. As she said, “From a monetization perspective this is still a very nascent source of revenue for us. With any platform shift, revenue always followed users and mobile will be no different.”
Mayer seems to be steering the company in the right direction after a rough period. Taking over when former CEO Scott Thompson resigned less than six months after taking the job. Mayer has seen stock rise approximately 30% since she took over. The company’s fourth-quarter net income was $273.3 million, or 23 cents per share. It was $295.6 million, or 24 cents a share one year ago. Yahoo shares were up 59 cents at $20.90 on Monday.