Jerry Yang’s Departure Could Drive Yahoo! to $20: Adami

In the after market shares of Yahoo! landed on the trader radar after word hit the Street that former CEO Jerry Yangresigned, suddenly, from his position on the Yahoo! board of directors.

Yang is the controversial figure who spurned a $33 offer from Microsoft in 2008, saying the offer was insufficient. At the time the stock was trading around $14.

Microsoft subsequently walked away from the negotiations and Yahoo! has been in a state of flux, ever since. Although the company later hired Carol Bartz to turn around its fortunes, she was removed from her position this past September, via phone call.

What should you make of these developments?

“Yang’s out – that’s very bullish," says top trader Guy Adami.

"Yahoo has been a heart breaker but I don’t think it will be anymore. This is the first step toward Yahoo! going significantly higher. I think this is a $19.5 to $20 stock. This will be the catalyst to take it to the next level.”

Adami ultimately believes the company is a takeover target. “It’s been trading like there’s interest, since the fall.”

Analyst Ken Sena of Evercore says Jerry Yang was considered an obstacle to M&A. "Now, a deal could get done. Again, I think this is the catalyst,” Adami adds.

The Street may agree. In the after market shares of Yahoo! spiked about 4%.

But one trader you won't find hitting the buy button is Karen Finerman. “I don’t know what to make of it,” she says, “But I would not be jumping in right here. They recently named a new CEO, Scott Thompson and I don’t think they’d do something like that, then immediately sell.”

Dennis Gartman sides with Finerman. “They wouldn’t bring in a guy like Thompson, the former president of Ebay’s Pay Pal unit, to turn around and sell the company.”

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Trader disclosure: On Jan. 17, 2012, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Adami owns C; Adami owns GS; Adami owns MSFT; Adami owns AGU; Adami owns INTC; Adami owns BTU; Adami owns NUE; Terranova is long V; Terranova is long CSCO; Terranova is long TRLG; Terranova is long JNPR; Terranova is long DECK; Terranova is long NFLX; Terranova is long XOM; Terranova is long SBUX; Terranova is long AXP; Terranova is long EMC; Terranova is long MUB; Terranova is long IBM; Terranova is long UNG April $5 puts;

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