Yahoo profit outpaces Wall Street estimates

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc exceeded Wall Street's earnings expectations in the first quarter thanks to the sale of some of its assets and its search deal with Microsoft, but the company's revenue fell a hair short of Wall Street expectations.

Shares of Yahoo were down about 1 percent after closing the regular Nasdaq session nearly flat at $18.38.

Yahoo posted net income of $312.3 million, or 22 cents a share, in the three months ending March 31, compared with $118.7 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Yahoo said the results included a 5 cent benefit from its sale of the Zimbra business and a 2 cent benefit from the deal to partner with Microsoft on search.

Excluding those items, Yahoo posted a profit of 15 cents per share compared to the average analyst estimate of 9 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Yahoo said revenue in the first quarter totaled $1.6 billion compared with $1.58 billion in the first quarter of 2009.

Net revenue, which excludes the money Yahoo pays to partner websites, totaled $1.13 billion, compared with $1.16 billion a year earlier, and below the average analyst estimate of $1.17 billion.

Yahoo forecast revenue in the second quarter of $1.6 billion to $1.68 billion, though it was not immediately clear how that compares with the net revenue figures estimated by analysts.

Yahoo shares, which have risen more than 10 percent since the start of the month, fell 23 cents to $18.15 in after-hours trade on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gary Hill)