Although Yahoo's last few months have been defined by its deal with Microsoft and a trimming of nonessential units, the company proved today that it has a little life in a yet.  Plenty of the stuff, really, as Yahoo's third quarter earnings report beat analyst's expectations. 

Analysts thought Yahoo would reel in $1.5 billion in revenue.  The company managed to find an extra $75 million.  It then did even better in terms of net income and earnings per share, reporting $0.13 against a forecast $0.07.  This represents a 225 percent year-over-year improvement, and would appear to show that the cost-cutting measures have paid off. 

Carol Bartz stated as a result, "[W]e had a solid third quarter that signals our major businesses have stabilized.  With new products like Yahoo! homepage, our brand revitalization campaign and expansion in the Middle East through Maktoob.com, our execution is improving and we're focused on what we do best - being the center of people's online lives."

As for the future, Yahoo thinks things will be better still in the fourth quarter, forecasting $1.6 to $1.7 billion in revenue.

Investors have responded well to all of this news, sending Yahoo's stock up an impressive 5.42 percent so far in after-hours trading.