To The Moon

Yelp Shares Surged 9% in Morning Trading. Yelp's annual revenue passed $1 billion again on quarterly sales, earnings beat.The online reviews site Yelp Inc. reported fourth-quarter net income of $23 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with net income of $21 million, or a 27 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Net revenue leaped 17% to $273 million from $233 million a year ago.

For the fiscal year, Yelp topped $1 billion (actually, a record $1.03 billion) for the second time. It hauled in $1.014 billion in fiscal 2019 before dipping to $873 million in a pandemic-marred fiscal 2020 as small businesses retrenched.

"It was a banner year with record revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin (24%) as we increased our strategic investments throughout the year," Yelp Chief Financial Officer David Schwarzbach told MarketWatch.

Advertising growth led the way. Sales from Restaurants, Retail & Other (RR&O) businesses increased 18% year-over-year to $377 million. Yelp achieved the results following the realignment of its go-to-market channels in 2020, including the reduction of its local sales force to approximately 50% of pre-pandemic2019 levels.

Yelp also issued 2022 net revenue guidance of between $1.16 billion and $1.18 billion, as well as adjusted EBITDA in the range of $260 million to $280 million.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $272 million for Yelp's fourth quarter and $1.03 billion for the year. Those same analysts forecast $1.158 billion in 2022 revenue.