Yelp (YELP) PT Raised to $55 at RBC Capital on Robust Local Advertising
RBC Capital analyst Mark Mahaney reiterated an Outperform rating and raised his price target on Yelp (NYSE: YELP) to $55.00 (from $48.00) after the company posted another beat and raise quarter, with the Local Advertising segment sustaining a very robust 41% Y/Y growth.
Mahaney highlighted:
1) Local Ad Revenue Growth – 3rd consecutive quarter of 40%+ Y/Y growth, driven by a confluence of factors – salesforce growth acceleration, $50MM brand advertising campaign, ad product improvements…
2) Very Robust Organic Rev Growth – Of 38% Y/Y (same as Q2), which excludes the loss of the brand advertising biz.
3) Local Advertising Account Adds – Up 6.6K Q/Q to 135,000, with the Net Adds down modestly compared to Q3:15 and Q2:16.
4) Stable Visitor Growth – Stable and robust App Unique Devices growth of 24% Y/Y and Mobile App growth is the Moatiest growth Yelp can have… Also, Yelp seeing no major impact from recent Google Algo change.
5) Very Strong Adjusted EBITDA Margin Results – 18% in Q3 is highest since 2014, with the incremental 50% Margin supporting the company’s l-t goal of 35%-40% Margins.
6) YELP Cutting Back Its International Presence – $2-$4MM restructuring cost in Q4. We view as long-term negative, but medium-term understandable, given very limited traction to date.
The firm's ’17 Revenue/Adjusted EBITDA increased 3%/7% to $930MM/$183MM.
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Yelp click here. For more ratings news on Yelp click here.
Shares of Yelp closed at $32.48 yesterday.
