Yelp (YELP) Q2 EPS Jumps 24%

Yelp (YELP 0.09%), an online platform connecting consumers with local businesses through reviews and advertising, reported its Q2 2025 results on August 7, 2025. The most notable news was that the company’s GAAP earnings per share and revenue both surpassed Wall Street estimates, with GAAP earnings per share at $0.67 compared to expectations of $0.51, and GAAP revenue reaching $370 million versus the $365.9 million forecast. While actual GAAP results topped analyst predictions, revenue growth slowed from prior quarters, with net revenue increasing by 4% year over year compared to 8% in Q1 2025, though profits and cash flow improved. Overall, this quarter highlighted disciplined cost controls, margin expansion, and steady cash generation, but flagged slowing topline growth and continued macroeconomic caution from management.

Source: Analyst estimates provided by FactSet. Management expectations based on management's guidance, as provided in Q1 2025 earnings report.

Understanding Yelp’s Business and Strategic Priorities

Yelp operates a digital platform in the United States and Canada where consumers can find, review, and connect with local businesses. Its model centers on user-generated content—primarily business reviews—and local advertising solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Advertising revenue, mainly from businesses seeking greater visibility, accounted for 96% of the company’s revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024.

The business rests on several key factors: consumer trust in posted reviews, engagement from a large and affluent consumer base, and a broad advertising platform for businesses of all sizes. In recent years, Yelp has focused on strengthening trust in its content, growing its audience, and expanding its portfolio of advertising and technology tools. Technological innovation, especially artificial intelligence (AI), now plays a central role in these priorities, as does ongoing margin optimization and cost management.

Quarterly Performance: Revenue, Profitability, and Product Initiatives

During Q2 2025, Yelp exceeded both its GAAP revenue and earnings projections. GAAP revenue rose to $370 million, a 4% increase year over year. GAAP earnings per share also beat estimates, reflecting double-digit net income growth and a 1 percentage point rise in GAAP net income margin from the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA reached $100.5 million, lifting the adjusted EBITDA margin to 27%.

Cost control was a major contributor to the improved profitability. GAAP sales and marketing expenses dropped from $150.3 million to $144.6 million. Stock-based compensation expense as a percentage of revenue continued to decline, reaching 10% in Q1 2025, with management targeting further reductions ahead.

Notably, advertising continues to account for the overwhelming majority of revenue, but the company did not provide a detailed breakdown by business segment (such as services versus restaurant, retail, and other categories). Past results show double-digit year-over-year growth in services-related advertising, including a 14% increase in Q1 2025, while advertising tied to restaurants and retail has faced ongoing challenges and even modest declines, a trend reflected in management’s continued macroeconomic caution this quarter.

Yelp also continued to invest in product innovation. AI-powered features, led by Yelp Assistant and Yelp Host (an automated call-answering service), remain central to its growth strategy. Yelp Assistant uses large language models—a type of AI that can understand written and spoken questions—and helps match consumers with local service professionals more efficiently, even recognizing photos or extracting key details. Yelp Host is an AI-powered call-answering service. The company reported encouraging adoption trends for these products, but did not isolate any direct revenue impact.

In addition, Yelp continued to return capital to shareholders through share repurchases, buying back $128 million of common stock in the first half of 2025. The company’s cash holdings remained robust at $197 million as of Q2 2025, even after these repurchases and ongoing investments.

YELP does not currently pay a dividend.

Business Model Dynamics and Recent Focus Areas

At its core, Yelp’s platform matches millions of consumers with local businesses each month, relying on credible, user-generated reviews. Safeguarding the trust and integrity of these reviews is critical; Yelp routinely highlights its automated moderation system, which recommends or filters reviews based on reliability. Roughly three-quarters of user reviews are recommended by these systems as of December 31, 2024, a crucial point for ongoing platform credibility and advertiser value.

The company also maintains a strong, recognizable brand and attracts an affluent audience, with a majority of users in higher-income demographics. As of December 2024, Yelp estimated that over 50% of its audience had annual household income of more than $100,000. This contributes to its ability to attract advertisers across various categories. However, the current report did not include updated data on user metrics or traffic, making it difficult to assess recent engagement trends.

Advertising products are tailored for a wide range of businesses, leveraging first-party data to deliver targeted digital ads at scale. Yelp reported nearly 18 million daily ad auctions in 2024, illustrating the scope of its advertising technology and serving as a foundation for its revenue model. The services segment—covering areas like home improvement and automotive—continues as a growth engine, while restaurant and retail categories remain subdued.

AI and machine learning stand out as key differentiators. Features like Yelp Assistant and new call-answering tools aim to improve both the user experience and advertising effectiveness by driving higher-quality connections and responses. Management described these initiatives as having “early traction” and suggested further rollout ahead, but left the financial contribution largely unspecified.

Looking Forward: Management Outlook and Investor Focus Areas

Management narrowed its outlook for FY2025. The new full-year revenue guidance is $1.465 billion to $1.475 billion. The upper end of the previous range was reduced. Adjusted EBITDA is now guided between $350 million and $360 million (non-GAAP), consistent with earlier forecasts but with reduced spread. These changes reflect increased visibility into the company’s operational execution, but also ongoing caution due to macroeconomic risks, particularly in struggling segments like restaurant and retail advertising.

For now, management has not provided more granular segment outlooks or long-term user growth targets. YELP does not currently pay a dividend.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.