Yelp Inc Reports Surprise Profit, Office Depot Inc Shares Rise On Earnings

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Yelp and Office Depot released their latest earnings reports before opening bell this morning. Yelp posted adjusted earnings of 22 cents per share, compared to the consensus estimate of 3 cents per share in losses. Revenue came in at $186.2 million, also beating the consensus of $182.9 million. In last year’s third quarter, the company reported $143.6 million in revenue.

Office Depot reported earnings of 16 cents per share on $2.84 billion in sales, compared to the consensus estimates of 15 cents per share and $3.49 billion. In last year’s third quarter, the office supply chain reported $3 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings of 17 cents per share.

Yelp swings to profit

Yelp’s GAAP earnings were 2 cents per share, compared to the loss of 11 cents per share in last year’s third quarter. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $33.7 million from $12.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Local ad revenue grew 41% to $163.6 million, beating the consensus of $160.2 million. Transactions revenue grew 33% to $15.9 million, coming up a little shy of consensus at $16.2 million. Cumulative reviews were up 29% year over year to about 115 million, while App Unique Devices increased 24% to about 25 million. Local ad accounts increased 30% to about 135,000.

The company said consumers continue to adopt the Request-A-Quote feature, as there were 20% more requests made through the feature in the third quarter compared to in the second quarter. Also response rates among business owners remained high as almost 75% of messages received during the quarter were responded to within 24 hours.

Yelp expects fourth quarter revenue to be between $191 million and $195 million, compared to the consensus of $192.6 million. The company looks for full-year revenue to be between $709 million and $713 million, compared to the consensus of $708 million.

Shares of Yelp soared in premarket trades, climbing by more than 10% to as high as $35.79.

Office Depot shares rise

Office Depot’s operating income rose to $117 million from $81 million last year, while net income jumped to $44 million or 8 cents per share from $6 million or 1 cent per share last year. Net income from continuing operations jumped to $330 million or 61 cents per share from $42 million or 8 cents per share in last year’s third quarter. North American Retail Division sales declined to $1.5 billion from $1.6 billion last year. North American Business Solutions sales declined 6% to $1.3 billion.

Office Depot said total sales are expected to decline year over year in the fourth quarter, mostly as a result of store closures and customer losses during the attempted acquisition of Staples. For fiscal 2017, the office supply chain expects total sales to fall year over year and adjusted operating income of about $500 million.

Shares of Office Depot surged by as much as 5.57% to $3.22 in premarket trades this morning.

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