Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer

Yahoo! Inc.’s outlook brightened slightly as it posted a rare increase in revenues for the most recent quarter, partially driven by its emerging mobile business.

The news isn’t much to write home about though; the company said its third-quarter GAAP revenues increased by just one percent to $1.148 billion, up from $1.139 billion in Q3 of 2013. Nonetheless, the first increase in seven quarters is reason for optimism that the worst is over.

Yahoo! reported a total GAAP income of $42 million from the last quarter, which was actually 55 percent down from 93 million in Q3 of 2013. Meanwhile, non-GAAP income was down by 10 percent, to $156 million from $173 million.

Still, CEO Marissa Mayer seemed pleased with the firm’s results overall. “We saw continued stability in the business, and our investments allowed us to bring beautiful products to our users and establish a strong foundation for revenue growth,” she said. “We are extremely heartened by the year-over-year traffic increase we experienced in 2013, an early sign of return on our investments and the acquisitions we’ve made.”

One area where Yahoo! did surprisingly well was in mobile, where it’s revenues finally become “material” for the first time, according to Mayer. The firm pulled in $200 million – not too bad for a company that finally owned up to “missing the boat” on mobile not so long ago.

Mayer has said on numerous occasions that mobile is where the company’s future lies, and it’s come up with some pretty decent products lately, thanks to the numerous startups it’s purchased in the last few months. This year alone, Yahoo! has snapped up four firms to boost its mobile presence – the Snapchat clone Blink; MessageMe; Aviate; and the popular mobile analytics startup Flurry.

Yahoo! has or is in the process of integrating many of these acquisitions into its own products. For example, its News Digest is partly based on Summly, which it bought one year ago. Other were bought for the talent behind them, but Mayer’s overriding goal is to make Yahoo! a serious player in the mobile arena, and now we’re seeing the first fruits of that plan.

As for what Yahoo! will do next, many are speculating more acquisitions could be on the horizon. Mayer has hardly let up in her shopping spree since taking over, and now she’s cash rich with a $12 billion cash hoard – including a $5 billion windfall from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s spectacular IPO – she’s unlikely to stop. Just last week the Wall Street Journal reported Yahoo! is eyeing at least two more big acquisitions.