New York: Yahoo Inc., owner of the second-ranked US internet search engine, reported profit that topped analysts' estimates, bolstered by a rebounding online advertising market and the sale of its Zimbra business.

First-quarter net income attributable to Yahoo more than doubled to $310.2 million (Dh1.1 billion), or 22 cents a share, from $117.6 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier, the company said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had estimated 9 cents per share on average.

Advertisers are seeking out more space on Yahoo's pages as the economy improves. The US online advertising market will grow 13 per cent this year, outpacing the 3 per cent expected for total ad sales, according to Magna Global, a unit of Interpublic Group of Cos., the second-largest US owner of ad agencies. That's benefiting Yahoo, even as it remains a distant second to Google Inc. in search customers.

"You don't have to be first to be a winner in this space," said Scott Kess-ler, an equity analyst with Standard & Poor's in New York. He has a "strong buy" rating on the stock, which he doesn't own. "It still has a massive global audience."

Excluding revenue passed on to partner sites, sales totalled $1.13 billion last quarter. Analysts had projected $1.17 billion on average.

Sales forecast

The Sunnyvale, California-based company forecast gross revenue of $1.6 billion to $1.68 billion for the current quarter. Hamilton Faber, an analyst with Atlantic Equities LLP in London, had estimated $1.69 billion.

Yahoo rose 12 cents to $18.50 in late trading Tuesday after the report. The shares, up 9.5 per cent this year, closed at $18.38 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Yahoo has streamlined operations and cut costs under Carol Bartz, who became chief executive officer early last year. In February, Yahoo agreed to sell its HotJobs employment site to Monster Worldwide Inc. for $225 million. The previous month, Yahoo approved the sale of its Zimbra e-mail and collaboration software to VMware Inc. for an undisclosed price. Last year, Yahoo closed the web-hosting unit GeoCities and an online storage site called Briefcase.

"They're probably getting better focused," Faber said. He has a neutral rating on the stock, which he doesn't own.

Even as she offloads businesses, Bartz expects to make more acquisitions this year. Last month, the company agreed to buy Citizen Sports, adding mobile and social-networking features to its sports site. Citizen Sports lets customers check live scores on smartphones.

Yahoo gained ground in the US web-search market in March, reversing six months of declines, according to Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc. Google's share slipped, though the Mountain View, California-based company remains dominant.

Yahoo's share rose to 16.9 per cent, up from 16.8 per cent in February, ComScore said. Microsoft Corp.'s Bing gained to 11.7 from 11.5 per cent, while Google declined to 65.1 per cent from 65.5 per cent.

Last July, Microsoft and Yahoo struck a 10-year agreement to team up against Google in the search market. Yahoo plans to use Bing on its sites and sell ads next to the results. The companies expect to finish integrating their internet-search businesses by the end of the year.