Wall Street let out a collective Yelp yesterday.
The crowd-sourced review site saw its shares surge almost 64 percent in its public debut, offering investors a flicker of the frenzy to come from Facebook’s much-hyped initial public offering.
Yelp’s IPO met all the requirements needed for a big first-day pop. First, the company only floated about 12 percent of its stock, pushing up demand with scarcity. Then the underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs, set the share price at $15, above the original $12 to $14 range. From there, shares opened at $22 and closed up even higher, at $24.58.
“It was a strong sign for the short term,” said David Menlow of IPO Financial. “Initially, Yelp has a nice footprint in the IPO space.”
While the company had an enviable opening compared to some other recent IPOs in the tech sector, its business model faces many of the same challenges weighing on stocks of other Silicon Valley upstarts.
Yelp, run by CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, has never turned a profit since its start in 2004, and its losses are growing along with its revenue. Last year, it generated $83 million in sales, but posted a loss of $17 million.
Still, the timing of the IPO, so close to Facebook’s expected offering in May, helped boost investor interest. Zynga and Groupon had no such halo effect when they went public last year, and their share prices struggled to maintain their stellar openings as investors focused on the negatives of their businesses.
Groupon, after rising about 30 percent in its trading debut, was back near its IPO price of $20 within days. Zynga actually finished its first day lower than its IPO price of $10.
Some of the investor excitement for Yelp was the product of the demand for Facebook shares, Menlow said. Investors who expected a hard time securing big chunks of Facebook stock were settling for Yelp as a proxy, he said.
After yesterday’s surge, Yelp is now valued at a whopping $1.5 billion. Stoppelman also saw his personal wealth skyrocket, with his 11 percent stake worth $150 million.
Yelp’s valuation is considered high at 18 times its revenue. Analysts have warned that the latest crop of tech companies to go public are trading at exorbitant levels.
For instance, LinkedIn, trading at 17 times its revenue, is valued at $8.8 billion. The social networking company for professionals was a pioneer in the Web 2.0 IPO parade, debuting in May to a more than 100 percent pop.
Still, LinkedIn has mostly defied skeptics and short traders anticipating a hard fall for the stock.
Facebook is set to take the valuation title in an IPO that could set the company’s worth above $100 billion. Analysts expect investor demand reminiscent of the 1990s dot.com bubble.
If Yelp is any indication, Facebook shares are likely to pop at the outset, sending the company to a market cap that would rival Silicon Valley’s top companies, Menlow said.
gsloane@nypost.com
Facebook, Yelp, David Menlow, Goldman Sachs, IPO price, public debut, Silicon Valley, Jeremy Stoppelman
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