Hasta La Creative!

Yahoo slightly exceeded analysts’ expectations when it announced its third-quarter earnings on Monday, but the financial results were the undercard to the main event: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s first public articulation of her plan for Yahoo, which hired her back in July to breathe new life into a portal that’s been treading water for years.

Revenue for the quarter excluding traffic-acquisition costs rose 2% to $1.09 billion from $1.07 billion, slightly beating estimates of $1.08 billion. Net earnings per share were 35 cents, up 66% from 21 cents in the year-ago period, excluding the $2.8 billion windfall that came from selling the company’s shares in Alibaba. Analysts were expecting 25 cents a share.

In a continued troubling sign, display revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs was flat at $452 million vs. $449 million, though display revenue in the Americas region registered modest growth of 4%. Yahoo Chief Financial Officer Ken Goldman said the gain could be attributed to increased direct sales. That said, remnant inventory sales were hurt by decreased available ad impressions related to less email usage, he said.

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