Average analyst estimates for the internet services provider are $.11/share in EPS and $1.23 billion in Revenue.  Twenty-Nine analysts track the stock with no upward EPS revisions in the last 30 days and no downward EPS revisions in the last 30 days.

Last quarter, Yahoo! beat average analysts expectations by .06/share or 85.7%, .13/share vs. .07/share. I always find this a tough period waiting to see if the company is going meet, exceed, or miss their earnings estimates.  One thing I have discovered of value is to analyze sentiment moves in a stock ahead of the company’s earnings release.  In the case of Yahoo!, I will use the piqqem sentiment index for Yahoo! to see how sentiment has changed in the last quarter, for the months within that quarter, and from the end of the reporting quarter thru today.

 I’m looking for moves or changes that may foreshadow the earning release.  (piqqem leverages the ‘wisdom of crowds’ by allowing its users to vote on the price direction of a stock and then applies its own propriety factors to calculate sentiment for a security. In their model, -100 is the lowest and 100 is the highest sentiment).

The above chart shows Yahoo!’s sentiment peaking on November 30, 2009 and then dropping 11 pts thru today.  The chart also shows a 3 pt drop in sentiment from the end of Q4 thru today. This last indicator has historically been the most accurate indicator regarding an earnings surprise, both upside and downside, although I would attribute some of this decline to overall market conditions.

Sentiment for the S&P is down 2 pts so far this year and down 16 pts from November 30, 2009 thru today. On the Piqqem scale, Yahoo!’s sentiment rating of -2.14 is considered a hold and absolute sentiment indicates a less than quality stock. Only Yahoo! knows their actual results, but their current sentiment points to Yahoo! releasing earnings in a narrow range around estimates on Tuesday.