Can Yahoo get a better price?

Yahoo (YHOO) was up 49% in late afternoon trading Friday in the wake of Microsoft’s (MSFT) unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for the Internet giant, but some observers see the stock going still higher. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a note Friday afternoon that he believes the deal stands a 75% chance of getting done, with a 60% chance of a small rise in the price beyond Microsoft’s proposed $31 a share. “Obviously, this is Microsoft’s first public bid for Yahoo,” writes Munster, who rates Yahoo stock neutral. “Our belief is Microsoft would position, and Yahoo would view, any first bid as a negotiating starting point.” He says this despite his projection that there’s only a 5% chance of another bidder entering the action - a notion that seems to reduce any bargaining leverage on Yahoo’s part. Still, with Yahoo trading just about 10% below the deal price and Microsoft stock down almost 7%, there’s every indication that investors generally believe the deal will go through. Combining the companies “will not be an easy job,” says investment banker Marino Marin at Gruppo, Levey & Co. But Marin, who owns Yahoo stock, says he expects the deal to sail through regulatory review because creating a stronger competitor to Google (GOOG) should be good for consumers.