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AOL will report its fourth-quarter earnings results tomorrow before the markets open–thanks, CEO Tim Armstrong, from us folks on the West Coast–marking its first Wall Street outing as a newly independent company.<\/p>\n
And Wall Street is definitely wary about this close encounter of the first kind.<\/p>\n
AOL (AOL), which spun off from parent Time Warner (TWX) in mid-December, has been mightily trying to make itself relevant and innovative, as well as trying to fix its lagging business.<\/p>\n
Under former Google (GOOG) exec Armstrong, the focus has been squarely on content and advertising to sell against that content, which remains a dicey proposition. <\/p>\n
And, even though online ad sales are looking up, most think it is still a long way from the turn AOL needs to begin growing in any significant way.<\/p>\n
To help things along, Armstrong has slashed its workforce by 2,300 employees and has been trying to unload a variety of its less important business units. <\/p>\n
On a consensus basis, analysts expect AOL to report an adjusted profit of 62 cents on $763.5 million in revenue in the quarter.<\/p>\n
That is why AOL stock, which opened trading at $23.67, has remained around that price, reflecting the widespread wait-and-see attitude around the company by investors.<\/p>\n
One query I hope those not-so-good-at-asking-interesting-questions analysts ask on the call: What’s up with renewing its search deal with Google or is Microsoft (MSFT) its new partner?<\/p>\n
Until tomorrow, here’s a video of an interview I did with Armstrong<\/a> right before AOL spun off last year, where I tried to ask good questions:<\/p>\n Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n[ See post to watch video ]<\/div>\n<\/p>\n