These are the 10 candidates most likely to replace Marissa Mayer if she leaves Yahoo

A number of media reports in recent weeks have suggested investors, analysts, and Yahoo insiders have been calling into question the stability of CEO Marissa Mayer at the top of the company.

Meanwhile, activist hedge fund and Yahoo shareholder Starboard has urged the company to halt its plan to sell its $20 billion stake in Alibaba because of the risk of incurring taxes on the sale.

In a letter, the investor also expressed concerns about the performance of Yahoo's core business. Another shareholder, managing director of hedge fund Ader Investment Management Eric Jackson, said last week: "The company and the shareholders would be better served with [Marissa Mayer] leaving."

There's no indication from Yahoo that Mayer is going anywhere yet. Nevertheless, analysts at SunTrust have compiled a list of ~40 potential successors to the CEO role.

The list, based on conversations with tech and media industry executives and investors (we've contacted SunTrust's analysts to find out the sample size,) was then sorted into a top 10 most likely candidates, graded on five criteria (1 point for each):

1) Public CEO or top level management experience

2) Strong knowledge of Yahoo

3) Strong media understanding

4) Strong technology understanding

5) Turnaround experience

We've compiled the list of the most-mentioned executives, ordered from the most-likely to least-likely candidates, as graded by SunTrust. Interestingly, the list is 50% male/female.