Zacks Investment Research

Yahoo Inc. reported a first-quarter profit, exceeding analysts' estimates, as increased traffic on the Internet helped results. The Santa Clara-based Internet navigational guide provider reported net income of $210,000, or 1 cent a share, up from net income of $81,000, or virtually break-even, in the year-earlier period. Yahoo beat the average estimate of a 3-cents-a-share loss by seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Revenue increased to $9.

Shares of Akamai Technologies (AKAM), which sells a service to speed the delivery of Internet content, rose 23% on Wednesday after a Chase H&Q analyst predicted sales will double in the next year. Akamai surged $21.38 to $115.38. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company, which first sold stock to the public at $26 in October, reached a high of $345.50 in January amid the frenzy for Internet issues.

The Los Angeles Times Power Ratings rank stocks based on growth-oriented criteria: price momentum, earnings forecasts and analysts' recommendations.

For Merck & Co., another courtroom defeat over its painkiller Vioxx would be a prescription for trouble. The pharmaceutical company, whose fortunes soared partly on the strength of the drug's popularity, is awaiting the outcome of the second Vioxx product liability case to go to trial. A jury is expected to decide this week whether the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company is liable for the heart attack suffered by Idaho postal worker Frederick "Mike" Humeston.

Corporate earnings are poised to extend a more than three-year string of double-digit gains in the second quarter as the commodity price boom boosts profits of companies such as steelmakers and oil refiners, analysts say. Even though the economy is likely to slow in the quarter, market watchers expect companies to build on a strong first quarter in which earnings from Standard & Poor's 500 index companies will rise 13.4%, according to Reuters Estimates.

CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent company of Carl Karcher Enterprises Inc., posted better-than-expected earnings in the fiscal first quarter. Net income almost tripled while revenue climbed 11% for the three months ended May 20, the company reported. CKE, which operates about 665 Carl's Jr.

BankAmerica Corp. said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 19%, boosted by gains from trading and venture-capital investments. It said net income rose to $704 million, or $1.74 a share, from $591 million, or $1.41, a year earlier. That beat the average estimate of $1.67 a share reported by Zacks Investment Research. Non-interest income rose 10% to $1.16 billion. The biggest gains were in trading income and venture capital investments. Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp.

Fluor Corp. said fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 15%, slightly below analysts' estimates because of high costs of marketing and preparing contract proposals. The engineering and construction company said net income for the quarter ended April 30 rose to $63.7 million, or 75 cents a share, from $55.3 million, or 66 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. The earnings were a penny below the average 76-cent estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.