Mayer Leads Yahoo to a Post-Recession High

Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) was up about 2.5 percent in afternoon trading on Monday following an upgrade from analysts at Barclays. Following six months of strong gains, the news helped bump the stock as high as $22.62, setting a fresh 52-week and post-recession high.

The analysts at Barclays upgraded shares of Yahoo from Equalweight to Overweight, and increased their price target from $22 to $26, which is 18.5 percent higher than its closing price on Friday. While the company most-recently entered the spotlight when a memo was leaked that revealed a new rule, calling at-home employees back into the office, investors are more excited about news that the company will be discontinuing seven products.

The eliminated products will include Yahoo App Search, Yahoo Sports IQ, Yahoo Clues, Yahoo Avatars, Yahoo Updates API, the Yahoo Message Boards website, and the Yahoo app for Blackberry. This is the second step towards the company’s goal of reducing its number of mobile apps to about a dozen.

The more Yahoo can focus its energy, the better. Before the fall of 2012, the stock was locked in a range between $10 and $18 per share, flat lining along with the rest of the company as it dealt with rapid executive shuffling and a lack of clear direction. Marissa Mayer was brought in as CEO to try to shake the whole machine up and get it running again, and so far investors have responded favorably to her efforts.