Even with Mayer as CEO, Yahoo faces a tough challenge to turn itself around

While Yahoo has finally made its first step into what will hopefully be a path to much needed stability with the appointment of Marissa Mayer as CEO, the company still has quite a battle in front of it both to boost its numbers and to raise its stock price.

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The aging web portal did moderately well during the last quarter, but we’ll have to wait and see if this momentum continued despite the turbulence of a proxy battle with major Yahoo investor Third Point, the departure of Scott Thompson as CEO, and the temporary appointment of Ross Levinsohn to the top spot.

Yahoo posted $1,077 million in total revenue in Q1 2012, with a one percent increase compared to the same quarter last year. Its net earnings were up $0.23 per share at a 38 percent increase year-over-year. Wall Street is bracing investors for a slump in the following quarter’s earnings, which will be announced tomorrow along with a Q2 earnings call. Analysts expect Yahoo to post total revenue of $1.09 billion, down 11.3 percent compared to $1.23 billion last year, according to investment research firm Zacks. Net earnings, however, are expected to rise 5.3 percent at $0.20 per share compared to the same period in 2011.

If Yahoo does end up beating estimates, it’s likely that Levinsohn — not Thompson, who was dealing with defending his resume as well as a cancer diagnosis — will assume most of the credit.