By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Yelp stock (NYSE:YELP) surged 9% Friday after the company beat fourth-quarter estimates and promised another year of robust growth.
The company expects 2022 net revenue to be $1.16 billion to $1.18 billion, growth of over 14% at the top end. This follows an 18% jump in annual revenue that topped $1 billion in 2021, exceeding its pre-pandemic performance. Ad clicks rose by 24% in the year.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose more than 17% to cross $273 million, riding a recovery in spending as more consumers stepped out and logged on to its platform for reviews of restaurants, bars and beauty salons.
Cumulative reviews increased by 9% year over year to exceed 244 million as of December 31, with 2021 along bringing in 20 million of them. The company scaled Yelp Connect, a paid product that provides advertisers with a channel to market new offerings to customers.
Advertising revenue from services businesses and robustness in home services category grew strongly. Adjusted profit per share rose 3 cents to 30 cents and well ahead of estimates.
Yelp is working on a plan to reduce its office space. It has $232 million remaining under its repurchase program, and plans to keep using part of it to buy back shares.