Out Fox The $treet

This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my private investing community, Out Fox The Street.  Learn More »   Update - Dec. 20 Pretty absurd downgrade of Yelp. The stock is basically being given away below $30 and JPMorgan doesn't want it. The stock has actually hit a new 52-week low on the news.  -Yelp downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan -JPMorgan analyst Cory Carpenter downgraded Yelp to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $23, down from $34. The insurance lead generation sector is the analyst's favorite across small and mid-cap internet stocks for 2023. He downgraded Ziff Davis to Neutral and Yelp to Underweight citing a cautious view of online advertising. Trends in online advertising are unlikely to improve at least through the first half of 2023, Carpenter tells investors in a research note. Original article published on Nov. 4 Yelp reported a strong Q3'22 with revenues growing 15% YoY. The consumer review site cut Q4 targets d...

  Yelp reported another strong quarter as the reopen play tops 2019 levels. The consumer review site guided towards record revenues of $1.2 billion in 2022. The stock remains cheap at only 7x EV/EBITDA targets with growth far exceeding this valuation multiple. This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my private investing community, Out Fox The Street.  Learn More » As the domestic economy is fully reopen now,  Yelp  ( NYSE: YELP ) is on to generating record revenues. Though, the stock is nowhere close to record prices or valuations with Yelp actually trading closer to the recent  lows around $30. My  investment thesis  remains ultra Bullish on the consumer review site stock following the performance of the business higher. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Yelp remains in a tight trading range between $30 and $40. The consumer review site is back on a reasonable path to 10+% revenue growth. The company reduced the diluted share count by 14% over the last year. At 3.0x EV/20 sales estimates, Yelp would trade at nearly $53 or ~50% upside. Over the course of the year,  Yelp  ( YELP ) has been stuck in a range between $30 and $40 despite solid revenue growth mixed with large stock buybacks. These moves generate long-term value for shareholders whether the market realizes the benefits in the short term. My  investment thesis  remains very bullish on the stock with the chart suggesting a resolution to this tight trading range in the near term. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

For the last year,  Yelp (YELP)  has been stuck in a range of $30 to $40. The stock is stuck in this range despite an extreme valuation position in the low $30s. The stock has an EV of only $2.0B with '20 revenue estimates of $1.1B and adjusted EBITDA in the $250 million range.  Investors should jump on this stock on another dip to $32 or a rip above the slopping downtrend right around $36 now.  Disclosure: Long YELP. Please read the disclaimer page for more details. 

Yelp reported a solid Q2 despite the revenue miss. The company repurchased 8.8 million shares in the quarter, leading to a nearly 12% share count reduction YoY. The stock is cheap trading at 9x EV/EBITDA estimates while the EBITDA/share grew by 50%. While the market has constantly hyperventilated on the revenue growth of  Yelp  ( YELP ), the consumer review site has quietly become a money machine. The company has utilized expense control to generate large cash flows to substantially reduce share counts in a huge benefit to shareholders. The market will slowly catch on to the bullish cash flow story for a company growing revenues up to 10% annually. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  More commentary - Out Fox The $treet - August 13 Disclosure: Long YELP. Please read the disclaimer page for more details. 

After the close,  Yelp (YELP) reported Q4 numbers that beat estimates. In addition, the company established these 2023 goals.

Despite the weakness today, Yelp ( YELP ) is still above the lows following the disastrous Q3 report. The stock is down to $34 following a downgrade to Underweight from Morgan Stanley. The analyst sees issues with paying accounts, but the consumer review site already took steps to rectify the issue in the last quarter.

Yelp slumps 30% on a typical sales hiccup. The consumer review site saw key metrics grow about 20% YoY. The stock has historically rebounded following these quarterly problems as the stock bounces off trough P/S multiples. Yelp   ( YELP ) never seems to fail to rip failure out of the hands of success. The consumer review site always follows strong quarters with unexpected issues. The stock has historically been a buy on these dips as the key consumer metrics constantly expand in the 20% range. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long Yelp. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.   

LendingClub hit a new low of $3.50 to close out the disastrous week. The stock now trades near cash values despite any indication that the loan performances are impacted. LendingClub now trades near death watch value providing an incredible entry point though risks of lower prices exist in the near term. The sudden resignation of the CEO has left the stock of LendingClub (NYSE: LC ) in a downward spiral. The stock now trades at a death watch valuation despite no fundamental change to the performance of the loans on the platform.  Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.       Disclosure: Long TWTR, YELP. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

Yelp remains an attractively priced stock as the market got too negative on its prospects. The EU could sanction Google, and that might provide relief for Yelp. The recommendation is to own the stock as international remains a greenfield with any growth providing upside to Yelp. For a long time, Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) has struggled to gain traction in international markets as Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG )(NASDAQ: GOOGL ) utilizes search and the mobile operating system to steer users toward Google reviews. The latest news continues to suggest the EU squeezing Google to open up their networks. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.      Disclosure: Long YELP. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

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. 

Gil Simon of Apex Capital predicts that Yelp (YELP) eventually plays out like Netflix (NFLX) . The recent collapse mirrors the one like Netflix back in 2012. With the premium platform and content, Gil sees a significant rise for Yelp. The video cuts off, but he reportedly suggested a significant rise in Yelp similar to the Netflix rally. Netflix has rallied from under $10 to over $120 now. It sounds like a ride to $100 would be only the start. Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The downward momentum continues to add up at Yelp. The local consumer review site provided weak revenue guidance due to a couple of short-term factors that didn't please the market. Yelp continues to have compelling growth in key metrics generally misunderstood by the market which focuses on flawed total unique users. Prior to reporting Q215 earnings , Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) traded at multi-year lows. The momentum the stock saw in rushing above $100 in early 2014 was all about gone so it wasn't a big shock that any perceived negative news sent the stock collapsing in after-hours trading. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Yelp decides to take itself off the sales block sending the stock down 10%. The consumer review site is no longer expensive after a major collapse in the stock this year. Yelp is still failing to significantly improve user growth based on mobile app downloads, suggesting the stock will struggle in the short term. In not such a surprising move, Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) failed to find a buyer willing to pay up for the consumer review site. Though no details exist on any offers or whether any existed at all, the likelihood all along was that Yelp would fail to find a buyer willing to pay for the potential of the site. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review disclaimer page for more details.

Summary Yelp reported highly disappointing Q1'15 earnings. The company has several catalysts to ramp up user growth and move away from a dependence on traffic from Google. The stock is suddenly worth only $3 billion and trades at very reasonable multiple of future revenue. With the stock collapsing to new lows, on the surface it definitely appears that Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) needs some help. The consumer review site already has a well-defined Google (NASDAQ: GOOG )(NASDAQ: GOOGL ) problem that is a major part of the user growth issue, especially internationally. Now the company outlined an internal sales issue and a disappointment with brand advertising adding to the troubles. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Yelp trades at multi-year lows due to user problems and an unflattering documentary. Mobile app provides a solution to the user problem, but it requires execution. Yelp remains an extremely attractive valuation with plenty of upside potential if it can execute on the mobile potential. Though claims continue to persist that Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) extorts business owners to extract advertising spending, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) remains the biggest issue. While the Kickstarter documentary is a headache and a concern that could plague Yelp for a while, the company actually has a solution to the Google problem, if it executes. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Yelp reports Q414 earnings that beat analyst estimates. The consumer review site has seen user growth completely stall sending the stock down roughly 20% in early trading. The stock now has an attractive valuation based on growing monetization of local business accounts. Despite strong earnings numbers,  Yelp (NYSE: YELP )  faces an issue with struggling user growth. Most of the metrics used to track the growth of the company remain in major growth mode, but the consumer review site is struggling to expand much beyond the 130 million MUUs (monthly unique users) that it first reached during Q114. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

 Summary Yelp reported Q314 earnings. Stock is a solid buy on any dips. The original investment thesis didn't anticipate the mixed guidance, but the stock remains on strong growth trajectory factoring in normal bumps in the road.  After the close, Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) reported Q314 earnings that easily beat company guidance and analyst estimates. The online consumer review site provided mixed Q4 guidance that disappointed the market, sending stock down as much as 15% in after hours.  Read full article at Seeking Alpha.   Disclosure: Long YELP. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

With Amazon.com ( NASDAQ: AMZN     ) expected to enter the local services space this year, it suggests taking the time to recheck the prospects of Angie's List ( NASDAQ: ANGI     ) if Amazon.com sees the space as valuable. Angie's List went public back around the same time as Yelp ( NYSE: YELP ) , but the results have been dramatically different for the related local service stocks. From the beginning, the free-to-join platform of Yelp scaled quicker and attracted more users, but in the end, Angie's List had the higher-quality paid and verified members. In that way, it's the ultimate tortoise versus the hare scenario. Yelp has quickly amassed 132 million monthly users, and Angie's List is stuck with only 2.6 million paid members. Will the paid members eventually have more value? Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long AAPL and YELP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The shift to mobile search is expected to have a profound impact on paid search. No longer are users searching only within browsers. Consumers now search directly in mobile apps like the one from Yelp ( NYSE: YELP     ) . The shift could have a profound impact on dominant paid search leader Google ( NASDAQ: GOOG     ) ( NASDAQ: GOOGL     ) . Research firm eMarketer estimates that mobile will account for roughly 86% of digital ad search by 2018,  with Google maintaining a 64.2% market share. While impressive, the market share is expected to drop 18 percentage points from the 2012 level. With an estimated $28 billion up for grabs on mobile search within four years, the market-share gains won't come easy, but here is why Yelp appears worth every penny of its current $4.7 billion market cap. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long YELP. Please read the disclaimer page for more detail...