Yahoo
CEO Carol Bartz recently appeared on CNBC and emphasized that Yahoo is “marching forward” and that she will prove it. In addition, EVP Hilary Schneider indicated at the Goldman Sachs technology conference that due to quicker-than-expected regulatory approval on the Microsoft (MSFT: 24.29 0.00%) deal, Yahoo now will receive some “unexpected benefits” in the first quarter. These “unexpected” reimbursements when taken along with Carol Bartz’s comments seem to point to strong first quarter results.

AOL
Meanwhile, AOL seems to be struggling in it’s first full quarter as a public company. On their fourth quarter earnings call, AOL provided Q1 guidance for flat year/year domestic advertising revenue. However, in their recent 10-K filing AOL now anticipates a decline in their first quarter domestic ad revenues.

Here is the specific text from the company’s 10-K filing:

…based on current information, we believe domestic display advertising revenues will decline in the first quarter of 2010 as compared to the first quarter of 2009 as a result of our advertising sales organization restructuring which resulted in the reassignment of a majority of our advertising accounts, significantly lower monetization of AOL Properties through our Third Party Network and an approximate $5 million reduction (which represents an approximate 40% year-over-year decline) in advertising revenue related to legacy agreements on certain AOL Properties.

Since the beginning of 2010, AOL shares have been outperforming Yahoo with AOL gaining 5.3% while Yahoo stock slid 7.2%. However, we would expect those performances to reverse over the next few weeks.

Answers (ANSW: 5.14 0.00%)
Answers Corp operates online answers websites Answers.com and WikisAnswers.com.
2008 Revenue: $14 million

Internet Brands (INET: 10.88 0.00%)
Internet Brands is an online media company operating and developing an ever-growing portfolio of vertical content websites.
2008 Revenue: $104 million

The Street (TSCM: 2.75 0.00%)
The Street is a financial media company operating a network of financial websites including their flagship website TheStreet.com
2008 Revenue: $72 million

Web MD (WBMD: 51.46 0.00%)
Web MD operates a network of websites that offer health information to individual consumers and healthcare practitioners.
FY 2009 Revenue: $383 million

The Knot (KNOT: 7.33 0.00%)
The Knot operates a network of wedding related websites
2008 Revenue: $104 million

TravelZoo (TZOO: 20.75 0.00%)
TravelZoo is an online media company that publishes a weekly travel newsletter to over 17 million subscribers
2008 Revenue: $81 million

Tech Target (TTGT: 5.07 0.00%)
Tech Target operates a portfolio of technology related websites.
2008 Revenue: $105 million

Marchex (MCHX: 4.13 0.00%)
Marchex operates a vast network of websites delivering local content.
2008 Revenue: $146 million

You may have noticed some prominent exclusions within our internet content category with online advertising giants Google (GOOG: 470.30 0.00%) and Yahoo (YHOO: 13.62 0.00%) not being mentioned at all. However, internet stocks with market caps of $5 billion or greater are included in our large cap internet stock category as we believe that the stock market evaluates those companies slightly differently.