Yelp Falls on Slowing Revenue Growth

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Yelp (YELP) shares moved lower after the company reported quarterly results, missing Wall Street earnings expectations and giving guidance that shows revenue growth is slowing.

The San Francisco-based firm lost 8 cents a share on $41.2 million in revenue during the fourth quarter, up 65% year-over-year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting the review aggregator to lose 5 cents a share on $40.29 million.

Yelp provided first-quarter and full-year 2013 revenue guidance. For the first quarter, Yelp expects net revenue between $44 million and $44.5 million, growth of 62% compared to the first quarter of 2012. For the full year, Yelp believes sales will range between $210 and $212 million, a 53% rise year-over-year.

"2012 was a tremendous year for Yelp," said Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp's CEO, in the press release. "We completed a successful IPO, launched new products to improve the Yelp experience for consumers and business owners, expanded into new markets while increasing our presence in existing ones, and completed our first acquisition. We believe 2013 will be a tipping point for our brand in Europe as Yelp continues to become a trusted local resource. Our mobile strategy will remain a top priority as engagement increases, and we will continue to focus on the business owner, creating more ways to measure the value of Yelp leads."

2012 marked some highlights for Yelp. The company noted its data is being incorporated into Apple's (AAPL) "Maps" application on iOS 6, and is partnering with Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing to power their local business pages.

Shares of Yelp closed higher in Wednesday trading, gaining 5.67% to finish at $22.38. The stock is moving lower in extended-hours trading, down 1.65% to $21.99 according to Nasdaq.com.

--Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York

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