Yelp Shares Rally Sharply, Now Nearing $75 Level; Stifel Earlier Resumed with Buy, $85 Target

Citing the company's dominant presence in the review website market, Stifel analyst Devitt resumed coverage on

with a Buy rating and a price target of $85 Wednesday morning. The company has revamped its product and increased quality standards, Devitt said, thus maintaining an enviable position amongst review websites. It is also expanding significantly into the local advertising market: one only successfully navigated by Google. It has acquired 30,000 local advertising contracts, and is reporting positive metrics thus far. In terms of future growth, “we estimate the company will grow revenue at a 54% CAGR between 2013 and 2016, rising from $233mn to $854mn, driven primarily by growth in active local business accounts from about 67,000 in 2013 to an estimated 183,000 in 2016”.