Yandex Reports Results, Retreats After Prosecutors Reportedly Open Probe
Russian search engine Yandex (NASDAQ:YNDX) reported earlier today that its Q2 income from operations increased 20% year-over-year to $49.1M, while its revenue jumped 57% to $161.7M. The search engine's operating margin came in at 30.3%. Yandex said it expects its 2011 revenue in Russian currency to jump 55%-60.
In addition, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said that it had ordered senior prosecutors to investigate the alleged leak of private information via Yandex and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).
Specifically, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said that the "personal data" of the customers of several websites had become publicly available through search results, Interfax reported yesterday.
In a note to investors today, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote that Yandex's stock is falling today due to the investigation. Russian Web masters apparently unknowingly made sensitive information public, causing the data to begin appearing in Yandex's queries, explains Munster. The news doesn't pose as much risk to Yandex - which said it's cooperating with the government on the matter, as many investors believe - according to Munster, who recommends buying the stock on today's decline. In late morning trading, Yandex dropped $2.83, or 7.35%, to $35.68.
