Shares of Yelp slumped by as much as 5.81% in after-hours trading, falling to $54.08 per share.
Yelp released the earnings results from its fourth quarter after closing bell tonight, posting adjusted earnings of 24 cents per share on $109.9 million in revenue, a 56% growth rate year over year. Analysts had been expecting the company to post earnings of 24 cents per share on $108.36 million in revenue for the fourth quarter.
Key metrics from Yelp’s earnings report
Net earnings were 42 cents per share or $32.7 million for the fourth quarter. In the same quarter a year ago, Yelp posted net losses of 3 cents per share or $2.1 million. Last year’s revenue was $70.7 million. Cash flow from operations was $18.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $25.1 million, an almost 150% increase year over year.
Yelp reported a 35% increase in cumulative reviews year over year, which increased to about 71 million. The number of average monthly unique visitors improved 13% year over year to about 135 million. Average monthly mobile unique users increased 37% to about 72 million users.
Yelp saw a 39% increase in the number of active local business accounts, which grew to about 93,700. The number of local ad accounts increased 48% to about 84,000.
For the full year, Yelp recorded net revenue of $377.5 million, a 62% increase year over year. Net income was 48 cents for the full year, while adjusted EBITDA was $70.9 million for the full year.
Yelp provides guidance
Yelp management said today they expect net revenue of between $114 million and $116 million for the current quarter. They’re projecting adjusted EBITDA of between $19 million and $21 million. For the full year, they expect net revenue to be between $538 million and $543 million and adjusted EBITDA to be between $58 million and $60 million.
“As we move into 2015, we will look to drive mobile engagement by making Yelp even more useful for everyday consumer needs, increase awareness of Yelp among consumers and deliver and measure ROI for our advertisers,” said Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman in a statement. “We see a vast market opportunity ahead of us and look forward to capturing more advertising spend as it shifts online.”
