Yahoo!'s anticipated offering will give the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company "a presence in an SME [small- to medium-enterprise] market heretofore dominated by Google," wrote Garrity in a report issued Monday.
Yahoo! two weeks ago announced it was releasing revised application protocol interfaces--which would make it easier for search marketing agencies and smaller publishers to participate in Yahoo!'s search offerings. That announcement fueled speculation that the company will offer small and mid-sized businesses new opportunities to receive pay-per-click contextual ads, in direct competition with Google's AdSense.
The Caris & Co. report recommended that investors "prudently assume a more conservative position" toward Google until the impact of Yahoo!'s contextual product becomes apparent.