Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Announces Earnings Results

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The local business review company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.21, Briefing.com reports. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 8.59%.The business had revenue of $375.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $366.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. Yelp’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Here are the key takeaways from Yelp’s conference call:

• Q2 revenue rose 1% to $376 million, exceeding the high end of guidance, but advertising remained pressured: services ad revenue was flat, RR&O ad revenue fell 10%, and paying advertising locations declined 1% year over year.
• AI-driven revenue streams gained momentum, with other revenue increasing 98% to a record $33 million, supported by Hatch, data licensing, and food orders. Yelp is targeting a $250 million annual run rate in other revenue by the end of 2028.
• Yelp reported encouraging product and traffic trends, including improved app installs and page views, approximately 10% growth in services project submissions, and Yelp Host reaching a 2.4 million annual call-handling run rate. Partnerships with OpenAI, including upcoming Request a Quote functionality, could expand Yelp’s distribution over time.
• Near-term profitability is expected to weaken as investments increase in AI, Hatch, and consumer marketing; Q3 adjusted EBITDA guidance is $70 million to $75 million. Full-year revenue guidance was narrowed to $1.460 billion–$1.470 billion and adjusted EBITDA to $315 million–$325 million, while share repurchases are paused until the company pays down its revolving credit facility.

Yelp Stock Up 2.5%

NYSE YELP traded up $0.63 on Friday, hitting $25.67. The stock had a trading volume of 2,133,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 945,540. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $24.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Yelp has a 52-week low of $19.60 and a 52-week high of $34.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.46.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,302 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 142,943 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $4,344,000 after purchasing an additional 19,190 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yelp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $289,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Yelp by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 63,442 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 2,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YELP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Evercore set a $30.00 price objective on Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yelp presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.57.

More Yelp News

Here are the key news stories impacting Yelp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 earnings and revenue exceeded expectations. Yelp reported adjusted earnings of $0.62 per share, well above the $0.32–$0.36 analyst estimates, while revenue of $375.5 million surpassed expectations of approximately $367 million. Revenue increased 1.4% year over year, supporting the positive investor reaction. Yelp Surpasses Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Results beat consensus despite a year-over-year EPS decline. The earnings outperformance suggests effective cost management and stronger-than-anticipated profitability, even though EPS declined from $0.67 in the prior-year quarter. Yelp Quarterly Earnings Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s full-year revenue outlook is broadly in line with Wall Street expectations. Yelp provided fiscal 2026 revenue guidance of approximately $1.5 billion, matching consensus and reducing the risk of a major forecast shortfall. Yelp Shares Rise on Strong Q2

About Yelp

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company’s flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.