Analysts Upgrade Yelp, Stock to All-Time High After Earnings

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) made our list of early bird analyst upgrades this morning, but it turns out that the upgrade cycle for Yelp is actually a large group of analysts.

Yelp posted a net loss of one cent per share, but the earnings a year ago came in at -$0.03 per share, and Thomson Reuters was expecting -$0.04 per share. Sales grew by more than 68% to $55 million, and that also beat the consensus estimate of $53.3 million. Yelp even projected revenue growth of 60% or so to a range of $58 million to $59 million, while the consensus estimate was closer to $57.5 million.

The online directory and review site also is growing handily in mobile, which only makes sense if you have ever been out and on the run, looking for some place to go eat or visit. Close to 40% of its ads were from mobile handsets, up from 36% in the first quarter and up from only 25% back in the fourth quarter.

Yelp upgrades and target hikes seen so far this Thursday are as follows, and we will update this throughout the morning:

  • Upgraded to Overweight from Neutral with a $52 price target at J.P. Morgan
  • Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform with a $51 price target at Northland Securities
  • Maintained Outperform and target raised to $49 at Oppenheimer
  • Upgraded to Buy from Hold with a $53 price target at Wunderlich

Yelp shares are indicated up 13% at $47.50, after closing at $41.80 on Wednesday. Its prior 52-week trading range is $16.32 to $42.84, so go ahead and chalk this up as an all-time high.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

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