Yelp's Revenue Jumps As Mobile Advertising Sales Rises
Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), the operator of consumer review website Yelp.com, reported a better-than-expected 66% jump in quarterly revenue due to higher revenue from local advertising on mobile devices.
Shares of Yelp, which went public in March 2012, rose 5% in extended trading.
According to Google Analytics, Yelp's average monthly mobile unique visitors grew 52% to about 61 million in the first quarter ended March 31.
"We also entered into an advertising partnership with YP.com (Yellow Pages website) which will enable us to introduce Yelp to an even broader pool of business owners," Chief Executive Jeremy Stoppelman said in a statement.
Yelp's mobile app combines reviews and other relevant information with knowledge of the consumer's location. It also allows consumers to "check in" at local businesses.
Yelp forecast revenue of $85 million to $86 million for the second quarter ending June.
Analysts on average were expecting $85.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Yelp's net loss narrowed to $2.6 million, or 4 cents per share, in the first quarter from $4.8 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier.
The San Francisco-based company, whose rivals include internet search engines of Google Inc and Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp's Bing, said revenue rose to $76.4 million from $46.1 million.
Analysts on average had expected a loss of 6 cents per share on revenue of $75.1 million.
The company said it expanded in Latin America and Asia with the launch of services in Mexico and Japan.
Yelp, which has been expanding into restaurant bookings, event management and payments, entered Germany with the acquisition of Qype in 2012.
It later bought San Francisco-based online restaurant reservation company SeatMe Inc in July to compete better with OpenTable Inc.
Yelp's shares closed at $58.32 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Lehar Maan in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)