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Sure, divesting a portion of the Alibaba stake to raise cash willhelp. But what will Yahoo do with the money? For now, it looks like it may be hoping to appease short-terminvestors as opposed to investing for the long-term. Yahoo said in a statement announcing the Alibaba deal Sunday thatit was increasing its current share buyback program by $5 billion.Yahoo CFO TIm Morse (who himself was interim CEO after Bartz wasfired and before Thompson was hired) added that the company waslooking forward to returning virtually all of the after-taxproceeds of the Alibaba transaction to shareholders in some form. That news didn't sit well with Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst withJanco Partners in Denver. "Yahoo is a company that still has lots of challenges. It'slost relevance in online advertising," he said. "It'sdisappointing that they may not use much of the capital to reinvestin the business." The bottom line for Yahoo is that it still needs to figure out whatit wants to be. Until it does, revenue growth may be sluggish atbest. Analysts are forecasting a sales increase of only 2% thisyear and 3% in 2013. Profits are likely to increase at a faster clip, but cost-cuttinghas been the story at Yahoo for a long time. While the stock maylook cheap, trading at only about 16 times 2012 earnings estimates,it actually is more expensive than other tech titans that don't have all of Yahoo's baggage, such as Apple ( AAPL , Fortune 500 ), Google and Yahoo search partner Microsoft ( MSFT , Fortune 500 ). Yahoo is a company that is now on its seventh CEO since 2001 . Yahoo has been a turnaround story for a long time. You canforgive analysts and investors if they remain skeptical. "Yes, this is finally some good news for Yahoo. But I'm notready to wear my purple shirt to celebrate just yet,"Pyykkonen said, referring to Yahoo's trademark hue. Best of StockTwits: Traders "poke" fun at Morgan Stanley ( MS , Fortune 500 ) for its role in the Facebook fiasco. Andy Warhol's favoritecompany gets kicked by investors. And .. surprise! ... more badnews about the housing market. AronPinson : Has $MS learned nothing from $JPM ??? When other market participants know what you're doing... You'rescrewed! $FB conorsen : When all is said or done $MS et al will have probably paid Facebook for the privilege ofunderwriting the IPO. Nice trade, Zuck. It was comical watching Facebook flirt with the $38 offering priceFriday but never fall below it. And you do have to wonder if anygood will Facebook generated from keeping underwriting fees downwill be overshadowed by the fact that the stock is getting killedMonday. BrianSozzi : The problem with doing the yield grab on some consumer staples:"cost inflation, increased promotional spending andunfavorable mix." $CPB At first blush, Campbell Soup ( CPB , Fortune 500 ) would seem to be a great stock for uncertain times. You have toeat, right? And soup is cheap. Then there's that tasty dividend. But the stock was down 4% on weak earnings. Commodity prices andhigh marketing expenses often have a way of turning what looks likea great "safe haven" investment into the culinaryequivalent, of well, Facebook. ReformedBroker : $LOW didn't have anything good to say re: housing market/demand. $HD didn't either last week. That is a worrisome sign. Lowe's ( LOW , Fortune 500 ) and Home Depot ( HD , Fortune 500 ) both had decent quarters but investors were spooked by guidance.It goes without saying that the only way to sustained improvementin the job market and overall economy is through a healthierhousing market. If the outlooks from the home improvement retailers are to bebelieved, there hasn't been nearly as much improvement in housingas we need. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of PaulR. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and AbbottLaboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individualstocks. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Powder Coating Test Equipment Manufacturer , China Powder Coating Oven, and more. For more , please visit Spray Coating Line today!
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