Yahoo Stock Slips As Analysts Forecast 'little Hope' For Near Term

Shares of Yahoo Inc. fell 2% in premarket trade Wednesday following a number of price-target cuts after the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings. Jefferies axed its target on the stock to $49 from $61, though it reiterated a buy rating. Credit Suisse cut its target to $53 from $59 on a neutral rating, while Raymond James lowered its target to $42 from $45 on an outperform rating and J.P. Morgan sliced its target by two dollars to $42 on an overweight rating. Wells Fargo actually raised its valuation range on the stock to between $36 and $37, from a range of $31 to $32, citing a higher probability Yahoo will secure a tax-efficient divestiture of its Alibaba Group Holding stake, but said it holds "little hope" Yahoo will see "any material improvement to operations" in the near term. Most of the analysts, however, were optimistic on Yahoo's new search partnership with Google Inc. , and Wells Fargo said it expects this is spawn more distribution partnerships. Yahoo's shares were on track to open down around $32.34 on Wednesday. They have fallen more than 17% over the last three months, underperforming the S&P 500's 4% decline