Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) earnings will hit this afternoon after the market closes on Wall Street. The company is expected to show earnings stable from its last report, signalling a turnaround in the company’s less than spectacular earnings history. A new report rates the company at Market Perform and expects upside in this afternoon’s results.
In the run up to the release of these results analysts following Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) were looking fro earnings per share of 7 cents from the company. Revenue for the three months through September, which Yelp recorded as its second quarter of 2013, are expected to come in at $59.5 million.
Aaron Kessler, who authored a report on the earnings release for Raymond James, expects slightly better numbers. He’s looking for revenue of $61.2 million from the company, and expects Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) to turn that into EPS of 9 cents per share.
Yelp earnings
In the same three months of last year Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) managed to earn 1 cent per share on revenue of $36.4 million. Revenue at Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) is growing quickly, but it’s not near the level to justify the company’s 4.31 billion price tag.
Kessler is expecting the review site to show strong growth in the segment it holds most dear, local advertising. He is looking for revenue of $50.6 million from the segment against consensus estimates of $49.2 million. The rapid growth in the local ad business is driving Yelp like nothing else, but the company still has many problems to face.
Yelp performance
On the back of the company’s good revenue growth and earnings stabilization through 2013, shares in Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) have gained more than 250% since the start of the year. Investors and analysts think the company has an opportunity in local advertising, which makes up the majority of its revenue.
If the area becomes valuable, it will have to deal with competition from the big players in the online advertising market. Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) is not nearly big enough to deal with a big play from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) or even Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). If the company wants to survive it will have to build a moat to outlast those firms.
Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) will host a conference call to discuss this earnings report this afternoon at 4:30 PM EST. The company’s investors and analyst will be looking for the company’s guidance for the current quarter, and its outlook for the rest of the year.
