Yelp Falls 13 Percent After Q3 Results

Online review site Yelp YELP released its fiscal third-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, and the stock has plummeted during Friday's trading session. Heading into the closing bell, YELP had shed nearly 13 percent after opening near the flat-line. The company provided lackluster fourth-quarter revenue guidance saying that sales would be between $40 million and $40.5 million. This was below Wall Street consensus revenue estimates of $40.8 million. According to the company's CFO, revenue from display ads has been weak and would likely be "flat-to-down," in the fourth-quarter. In the third-quarter, the company reported a net loss of $2.01 million or $0.03 per share, compared with a loss of $3.8 million or $0.24 per share, in the year ago period. This was slightly better than analysts' consensus EPS estimates calling for a loss of $0.04. Sales in the period were up 63 percent to $36.4 million, which was in-line with Street estimates. The company said that its recent acquisition of European review site Qype will not contribute to earnings until after next year. Qype was purchased for $50 million and has a presence in 13 countries. Yelp reported that the number of reviews on its site rose 49 percent year over year to more than 33 million and its average monthly unique visitors was up 37 percent to around 84 million.