Consumer review site Yelp.com beat analyst expectations when it reported earnings on Wednesday, showing strong revenue growth and a turn to profitability. Yelp reported $89 million in revenue for the second quarter, an increase of 61% from the same period last year, beating analyst estimates of $86 million. Net income was $2.7 million or 4 cents per share, compared with a loss of $878 million in the second quarter of 2013. “We delivered great results this quarter,” Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We also became profitable for the first time as a public company.”
Yelp Inc. reported a profit in the second-quarter, switching to the black side of the ledger for the fist time since the San Francisco business-review website made its market debut in March 2012. However, Yelp shares—down 26% from its March high—fell another 1% or so in after-hours trading on concerns about the number of businesses added in the second quarter. Yelp has been trying to expand its reach, launching websites in Japan and Argentina this year and opening a European headquarters in Dublin. The company, which now reaches 27 countries, also has struck a deal to provide business listings for Internet searches on Yahoo Inc. In the second quarter, Yelp’s active local business accounts jumped 55% year-over-year to about 79,900. Still, the roughly 5,900 additions was less than many analysts were expecting and below the company’s total from the previous couple quarters. Yelp did raise its revenue projection for the year, saying it now expects $372 million to $375 million, up from its earlier projection of $363 million to $367 million. For the current quarter, Yelp projected revenue between $98 million and $99 million, topping analysts’ recent forecast of $95.4 million. For the three months ended June 30, Yelp reported a profit of $2.7 million, or four cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $878,000, or a penny a share. Analysts had expected a loss of three cents a share.
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