Brean's Tom Forte 'Hopeful' On Yelp Heading Into Quarter

In separate reports published Tuesday, Brean Capital analyst Tom Forte maintained a Buy rating on

, with a price target of $58, ahead of the company's 2Q15 results. The company is scheduled to report its quarterly results on July 28. Analyst Tom Forte expects Yelp to marginally beat the consensus estimates. The company is likely to report sales of $133.7MM, representing 50.6 percent growth, ahead of the consensus estimate of $133.5MM. Adjusted EBITDA may come in at $23.2MM, in-line with consensus, while GAAP EPS could be at $0.02, as compared to the consensus estimate of $0.01. Forte commented that reports speculating that Yelp's management had "at least temporarily" halted its efforts to find a buyer suggest that "near-term trends are favorable." Forte pointed out that the company's shares have historically been volatile on the first trading day following earnings, while adding that there seem to be many investors in the stock right now "because of the potential of a sale."