Yelp Inc. saw the number of visitors added to its site slow in
the first quarter, underpinning the company's struggles as it
expands operations.
It was the second consecutive quarter that the San Francisco
consumer-review site reported slower growth, even as the company
reported a narrowed loss and higher revenue.
Shares fell 14% to $44.03 in recent late trading.
Average monthly unique visitors rose 8% to about 143 million in
the latest quarter, compared with 30% growth a year earlier and 13%
in the previous quarter.
On mobile, Yelp reported 29% growth, while unique visitors that
accessed the site through a desktop computer fell 3% from the year
earlier.
Yelp has been expanding its reach, launching websites--what it
calls "Yelp communities"--outside of the U.S., and acquiring a
series of companies to build its "Yelp Platform," which allows
users for example to order food, book a hotel room or salon
appointment from a series of partners' businesses.
In the latest period, for example, Yelp bought online
food-ordering service Eat24 and launched a site in Taiwan as part
of its Asian expansion.
Overall, for the first three months of the year, Yelp reported a
loss of $1.3 million, or two cents a share, compared with $2.6
million, or four cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding
stock-based compensation and other items, the company reported a
profit of 10 cents a share, compared with the consensus of a penny
a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Revenue jumped 55% to $118.5 million, at the low end of the
company's projection.
Local advertising revenue, the bulk of its revenue, rose 51% to
$98.6 million, with cost-per-click advertisers accounting for about
40% of the revenue, a 32% increase from the year earlier, Yelp
said. Local advertising accounts, meanwhile, rose 43% from the year
earlier.
For the current quarter, the company projects adjusted Ebitda of
$22 million to $24 million on $121 million to $134 million in
revenue, below the revenue consensus of $138.4 million, according
to Thomson Reuters.
Yelp defines adjusted Ebitda as net income or loss less
provision or benefit for income taxes, other net income or expense,
interest income, depreciation and amortization, stock-based
compensation expense, restructuring and integration costs and
contribution to the Yelp Foundation.
Yelp affirmed its projections for the year.
Through Wednesday's closing, the company's stock was down nearly
13%.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com