Yahoo! Inc. [YHOO] executives were unable to quell growing shareholder dissent when they discussed the company's fourth-quarter earnings and 2008 outlook Tuesday night. And analysts who cover the company are sounding less confident that current restructuring efforts will turn things around anytime soon.

Yahoo! shareholder and technology blogger Ashkan Karbasfrooshan at WatchMojo.com was particularly sharp in his criticism, saying that he doesn't see "how the current people running this ship have any clue what they are doing," and that Yahoo!'s brass "is making it very easy for a hostile takeover to take place."

He flatly predicts that Yahoo! will be bought out by year's end.

Company followers on the Street also are losing faith that Yahoo! can turn around its fortunes without taking bolder action. Jefferies & Co. analyst Youssef Squali took a look at where Yahoo! was trading after-hours Tuesday and wrote that at $18.72 per share, the company's stock is trading at an enterprise value/Ebitda of 6.8 times 2008 estimates, versus 9.2 times for eBay Inc. [EBAY] and 16 times for Google Inc. [GOOG]. He concludes that "the current valuation increases the chances for activist shareholders and/or unsolicited bidders to want to get involved."

Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Sandeep Aggarwal says Yahoo! "has become a 'show me story,' as management has no credibility with investors as estimates are declining." He also says Yahoo! management "appears irrational with respect to its nonoperating assets" and contends the only catalysts that could get the stock heading materially higher are a "management change or chatter of a sale."

Shares of Yahoo! were down 9% at $18.99 in recent trading, finding some support from investors who think things can't get any worse. - David Shabelman 

See Jan. 29 story from Reuters 
See Jan. 29 post from WatchMojo.com
See Jan. 30 post from Boomtown
See Jan. 29 post from News.com