UPDATE: Oppenheimer Upgrades Yahoo! to Outperform on Alibaba and Toolbar Upside

In a report published by Oppenheimer, analyst Jason Helfstein upgraded Yahoo YHOO from Perform to an Outperform rating, while increasing his price target from $22 to $27. According to the report, "We are raising our price target from $22 to $27 and upgrading YHOO shares to Outperform from Perform. The increase is driven by: 1) a higher current trading value for Yahoo Japan (YJ) shares; 2) our assumption that Alibaba will complete its IPO within the next 12 months at a $77B valuation; and 3) we now estimate 2013 core EBITDA 2% above the Street on higher Search revenues from toolbar/application providers. This report includes a detailed assessment and forecast for the Alibaba Group." Shares of Yahoo traded up 1.56 percent to $22.44 following the report.