Boston, MA 04/15/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX) is a market leader in Russia among search engines and operates in limited geographies such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkey. The Company is strong at its core market; however, a global player like Google is creating a competitive environment that lead to losing the market share.
Despite strong positioning in the market, the shares were down significantly in last three months due to unstable political conditions between Russia and Ukraine. It becomes difficult for the stock to revive on such conditions. The stock is currently trading at an average volume of 5.8 million shares, and last traded at price of $27.51, down by 1.79%. The stock is trading at 52 weeks high price of $45.42 and 52 week low price of $19.93.
Performance
Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX) performed well in the last quarter (4Q2013) with increased revenue and profitability. Revenues were up by 37% to $369.3 million due to increasing use of search engines and a high number of advertisers. During 4Q2013, search engine result pages grew by 19%, and number of advertisers increased by 30% compared to previous year period. It improved the operating income (adjusted EBITDA) to $157.3 million (+21%) and operating margin to 32.4%. Cash balance was $1.5 billion as of December 31, 2013.
Outlook
Google dominates the global search engine market. It accounts more than 70% market share followed by China based Baidu (~17%). But, few players such as Yandex focus only on their respective geographies rather than competing with a global leader. With increasing search engine shares and advertisers, the Company continues to grow in its geographies and provide benefits to its users. Political instability across the region may affect its price performance, but, Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX) can manage positive growth in revenue and profitability in coming periods. Yandex continues to deliver services considering its strong position and expected business opportunities in its core business.
