Yelp Inc Q4 Beats Street Views; Number Of Local Accounts Fall

Yelp Inc. YELP beat earnings expectations Thursday, posting forth-quarter revenue growth of 56 percent even as its local accounts fell from the third quarter. The San Francisco-based consumer review company changed hands recently at $53.90 down 6 percent. Yelp said active local business accounts at Dec. 31 numbered 84,000. That's down from 86,200 it posted at the end of the third quarter. Average monthly unique visitors grew 13 from a year earlier to 135 million, and average monthly mobile unique visitors grew 37 percent year over year to 72 million, Yelp said. The company's 2015 forecast calls for revenue growth of about 43 percent, to between $538 million and $543 million. Analysts' expect 2015 revenue of $537.98 million. For the current first quarter, Yelp predicted revenue growth of 51 percent to $114 million to $116 million, in line with the Wall Street consensus. Net income in the fourth quarter rose to $32.7 million, or $0.42 a share, from a loss of $2.1 million, or $0.03 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Recent results were buoyed by a benefit of $0.34 cents a share from the release of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance. Fourth-quarter revenue grew 56 percent to $109.9 million, from $70.7 million a year earlier. The company posted income of $0.24 cents a share for the recent period, excluding stock-based compensation, amortization and the valuation allowance release. Wall Street expected adjusted earnings of $0.07 cents a share, on revenue of $108.34 million.