Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.14 EPS

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $359.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $358.70 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.

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

• Yelp reported strong full‑year results with $1.46 billion net revenue (+4% YoY), $146 million net income (+10%), $2.24 diluted EPS (+19%), and $369 million Adjusted EBITDA (25% margin).
• Momentum in services and AI products drove performance — advertising revenue in services rose 8% to $948M, other revenue grew 17%, average revenue per location hit a record, and Yelp Assistant submissions rose >400% (≈5% of request‑to‑quote projects).
• Core restaurant, retail & other (RR&O) categories remain weak, with RR&O revenue down 6% in 2025 ($444M) and 12% in Q4, contributing to a 3% decline in paying advertising locations for the year.
• Management is accelerating its AI strategy (full cross‑category Yelp Assistant rollout, Yelp Host upgrades, Hatch acquisition, OpenAI licensing) and expects 2026 net revenue of $1.455–$1.475B but lower full‑year Adjusted EBITDA of $310–$330M due to increased investments.

Yelp Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE YELP traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $22.72. 2,629,712 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,198,299. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.05, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp has a 1 year low of $22.19 and a 1 year high of $41.22. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.58.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total transaction of $821,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,719,384.62. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total value of $410,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,627 shares in the company, valued at $3,881,137.07. This trade represents a 9.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 261,106 shares of company stock worth $7,260,184 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in Yelp by 399.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 725,214 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $24,853,000 after acquiring an additional 579,894 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 1,144.9% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 351,006 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $12,029,000 after purchasing an additional 322,810 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 741,747 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,420,000 after purchasing an additional 242,213 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,226,666 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $67,666,000 after purchasing an additional 156,430 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 157.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

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.