Out Fox The $treet

Yelp continues running into search engine issues with Google. The stock has surged this month to top $30. The mobile app continues to offer a long-term solution to the Google problem that makes Yelp a long-term investment when the stock cools off. After another search results issue with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG )(NASDAQ: GOOGL ), Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) is firmly on a path to work on solutions to bypass the Internet search giant. Mobile appears the easy and quick solution though uptake remains muted. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

TripAdvisor continued several negative earnings trends during Q1. The online travel review and booking site has several catalysts, including the expected growth in online travel booking in Asia-Pacific. With the CFO transition, TripAdvisor remains on the watch list until a turnaround takes hold. Over the last year, TripAdvisor (NASDAQ: TRIP ) has done the most to trip up its own stock. The online travel review site has consistently missed earnings estimates, even while generating fast growth for a stock worth more than $10 billion. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

 Summary Large drop in the stock of TripAdvisor over the last two months makes the stock attractive. New initiatives are leading to solid 30% revenue growth and future upside potential. Short-term fears over travel reductions due to Ebola will give way to the benefits of lower oil prices.  After skyrocketing from $30 back in November 2012 to $110 in March of this year, TripAdvisor (NASDAQ: TRIP ) has now spent the last year consolidating. The online travel review site continues with fast expansion amidst global growth initiatives. The company faces many global travel headwinds including slowing growth and the Ebola outbreak, but none of the issues should impact long-term travel trends. The reduced oil prices should help the industry, but the consistent growth prospects should top the issues making the stock volatile.  Read full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the discla...

The data is undeniable -- being added to or removed from a major index has a dramatic impact on stock prices over the next six months to a year. The NASDAQ-100 index is doing its annual update effective Dec. 23. Based on research from Schaefer's and raw numbers from the 2012 updates, investors clearly do better investing in the group removed from the index over the short run. For 2012, the stocks added to the index gained in line with the NASDAQ-100 over both the six-month and 12-month periods. The removals from the index actually smashed the index with an average six-month gain of 43.5% versus 8% for the index. The 12-month numbers were not as impressive, but still very strong at nearly 69% versus 32% for the index. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Investors often read only the earnings headlines, but a ton of useful information can usually be gleaned from the related conference calls. For those interested in the online travel industry, HomeAway ( NASDAQ: AWAY     ) provided some useful information on last week's earnings call on the developing marketplace for vacation rentals. The sector is starting to cross over into the traditional online travel industry with a pilot test with Expedia ( NASDAQ: EXPE     ) , and the company is starting to face tough competition from TripAdvisor ( NASDAQ: TRIP     ). Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

One thing for sure, the stock market is not very forgiving of growth stocks that miss earnings estimates, no matter the amount. In the case of Angie's List ( NASDAQ: ANGI     ) , the stock continued a month-long collapse after a third-quarter earnings miss. The company that offers paid members access to reviews of local service professionals generated revenue growth of 56%, yet it wasn't enough to meet analyst estimates. The company remains under extreme pressure to justify how paid memberships outweigh the free reviews on sites like Yelp ( NYSE: YELP     ) . The difference in stock valuations signals that the market thinks the free versions with larger user bases are more valuable. However, investors need to remember that the market tends to overreact and a reversion to the mean could take place in 2014. Remember that Yelp spent most of 2012 in the doghouse trying to convince the stock market that user reviews were a valuable service. Read the f...

As investors ponder if Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) is overvalued at $42, the big picture needs to be considered. The company has a market value of $2.7 billion and revenue that will only cross $200 million this year. While it might be difficult to envision it as worth $10 billion at this point, the company appears to have all the makings of a future that big. The company is a more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The local ad market offers tons of opportunity and Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) provides possibly the best way to play that market . The local online ad market already has reached $23 billion of the roughly $100 billion spent in local ads each year. Yelp is quickly placing itself as the place to generate high quality leads via check-ins, reservations, clicks to their websites, phone calls, and even directions with a depth more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As a leader in the real estate online market place, investors might be shocked that Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) is only worth $1.8 billion. The website has long been a go-to place to review houses for sale and home values, yet the level of revenue and market value might surprise investors. In fact, this investor regularly used the website back before the financial crisis in an era before Facebook and more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

For the second consecutive earnings report the stock of Angie’s List (NASDAQ: ANGI ) has soared over 30%. Is this due to irrational exuberance or a change of fundamentals at the company? Angie’s List provides a web service that allows paid users the opportunity to find service providers recommended by the community. The company now has nearly 2 million users and spends a large percentage of revenue on sales more » Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

While performing research for an article on Netflix ( NFLX ) , the constant discussion on original content made me wonder about other content generators. Especially when considering the massive valuations of entertainment content companies. As an example, nonfiction content creator Discovery Communications ( DISCA ) has a market value of $28B and The Walt Disney Corporation ( DIS ) is worth $111B. Is it possible for user generated content to ever create companies of that size? All of those firms are vastly different from a focus of distributing content in the case of Netflix to the creating content for a vast network of cable channels at Discovery to creating films and TV shows at Disney. In general, all of the companies are involved in the creation and distribution of entertainment content that has historically had significant value creation. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more deta...

Editors Choice After a rocky start as a public company, has  Angie’s List  (NASDAQ:  ANGI )  finally turned the corner? The company that regularly spends a major portion of revenues on sales and marketing was able to generate strong membership growth by only increasing marketing spend by 10% in Q4. Will the company be able to continue the trend in 2013? The company helps consumers find local service professionals in more than  more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

This article is the fourth in a monthly series to analyze the stocks at the forefront of the monetization of the trend towards mobile data traffic. The original mobile monetization index highlighted the leading public companies and defined the concept. Market Data The expectations for the monetization of mobile traffic increased dramatically in December following the nice surprise when Facebook (FB) reported very strong mobile revenue back in October. Analysts continue to become more bullish on the concept. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long AAPL, GLUU, and VELT. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

This article is the second in a monthly series to analyze the stocks at the forefront of the monetization of the trend towards mobile data traffic. The original mobile monetization index highlighted the leading public companies. The concept was created as the market continuously lumped the new mobile stocks into the original failures of the relatively old companies such as Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG) . Recently Facebook reported a huge improvement in the monetization of mobile traffic providing hope for the sector A range of companies benefiting from this shift to mobile traffic continues to grow. The industries range from Advertising to Real Estate to Travel with varying degrees of success and profits. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure. Long AAPL, GLUU, VELT. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

With the much-published failures of Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG) to monetize mobile traffic that switched from desktop, the sector has obtained a ton of bad press, mostly from uninformed journalists and investors not understanding the difference between legacy companies and new entrants focused on mobile. While other people focus on the rather large missteps, Stone Fox Capital has been focused on the companies benefiting from the monumental shift to mobile provided by fast wireless data networks and a movement to more advanced smartphones and now, more importantly, tablets. A whole slew of companies are benefiting from this shift as happens with every technological move. Legacy companies either aren't savvy enough to make the shift or the economic structure prohibits a move as revenue is cannibalized by the currently lower monetization rates. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VELT. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Kayak ( KYAK )  went public in an IPO at $26 on Friday. This price was above the original $22-$25 range and raised $91M for the company. The stock opened up 15% at $30.10 and now trades in the $33 range. The company proclaims itself as the best place to plan and book travel. The basic focus of the company is to enable people to easily research and compare accurate and relevant information from hundreds of other travel websites in one comprehensive, fast and intuitive display. The initial thought when the company filed to go public was that of just another internet travel company. My past experience on the website wasn't that impressive though my last visit went back a few years. At the time it was vastly underwhelming to use or at least that was my experience. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Recent spin-off TripAdvisor (TRIP) [see Spin-Off Mania Benefits Alert Investors] had possibly the most disappointing Q4'11 earnings report reviewed so far. The spin-off from Expedia (EXPE) offered huge potential as it became independent from the bigger corporation. TripAdvisor provides a travel research platform which aggregates reviews and opinions of members about destinations, accommodations, restaurants and activities throughout the world. In a way, the travel version of IPO filer Yelp (YELP) and recent IPO Angie's List (ANGI). With 50M monthly users and expanding Facebook interaction, TripAdvisor appeared to provide huge earnings growth potential. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The major difference between an IPO and a spin-off is that one gets major media 'spin', while the other can be vastly ignored. The lack of a major financial transaction-- and hence, fees-- tends to reduce the push by investment houses. Just by viewing articles posted on this very website one can quickly derive that the general public has less interests in spin-offs versus IPOs, to their own detriment. This provides a major advantage to alert investors. Outside the major spin-offs, like the upcoming ones at Kraft (KFT) and ConnocoPhillips (COP), the others fall under the radar by the investing community. Historically, spin-offs have provided solid returns for savvy investors. This is partly due to investors ignoring or not understanding the new security, but also because spin-offs allow both the parent and the spun off company to thrive, with each management team free to focus on its direct business. A few interesting spin-offs took place around year-end to little or no fanfare....