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A lackluster financial announcement from CEO Jerry Yang has one industry observer stating the time is right for someone, likely Microsoft, to purchase the company. The good news of increased revenue received a splash of cold water as investors also digested Yahoo's drop in earnings for the recent fiscal quarter. Wall Street pummeled the stock overnight, leading to an open of $26.07 that has been largely unchanged through the day after Yahoo's earnings report.

It has reopened talk that the company rests at the cusp of being taken over, with the only questions being how soon and for how much. Microsoft has long been discussed as a new corporate master for the Sunnyvale-based portal.

A Bloomberg report cited analyst Clayton Moran of Stanford Group in discussing the latest wave of rumors that Yahoo will soon find a home within the Microsoft arcology:

"Given a seemingly increasing disconnect between management commentary and operating results, a sale of Yahoo seems more likely," Moran wrote in a note to clients. "In the near-term, we believe this stock will linger in the mid-$20s, unless a suitor arises."

Steve Ballmer and company could make that deal, and plenty of banks would be more than willing to help Microsoft take on some debt to acquire Yahoo. If one can accept Precursor president Scott Cleland's assertion that Yahoo simply cannot make up ground against Google in online advertising, a takeover may be inevitable.