It seems like the pressure is building for Yahoo's CEO to make positive signals during the investors call when the results are announced this week.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)’s earnings call this week has turned into a must-win situation for Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer. Report: Yahoo's Marissa Mayer Faces Key Earnings Call Amid Investor Pressure [bloomberg.com]

Mayer’s message is crucial to assuaging investor concerns about whether she can turn around Yahoo. The Sunnyvale, California-based Web portal is under intensifying scrutiny after last month selling part of a stake in Alibaba, which had driven up Yahoo’s value. Since Alibaba went public, Yahoo’s shares have fallen 8.6 percent. In addition, Yahoo’s main online advertising business continues to struggle.

The call is “critical,” said Scott Galloway, a professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business.“Is she going to have the wind at her back or in her face?”