By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Yelp Inc. added to its gains in
afternoon trading Thursday, highlighting activity that helped the
tech sector start off August with a broad slate of advancers.
Yelp's (YELP) shares rose more than 25% to $52.36 after three
Wall Street analysts raised their ratings on the company following
its second-quarter report late Wednesday. Yelp said it lost
$878,000, or a penny a share, on revenue of $55 million for the
quarter ended June 30. During the same period a year ago, Yelp lost
$2 million, or 3 cents a share, on $32.7 million in sales.
The company's results topped the estimates of analysts surveyed
by FactSet, who had forecast Yelp to lose 4 cents a share on sales
of $53.3 million. Yelp attributed its business performance to gains
in usage and advertising from mobile devices.
J.P. Morgan analyst Kaizad Gotla said Yelp's results showed
"there's still significant room for strong revenue growth and
margin expansion. We think the pace of innovation in new
advertising products is accelerating."
Gotla raised his rating on Yelp to overweight from neutral.
Additionally, Wunderlich Securities analyst Blake Harper lifted his
rating on Yelp to buy from hold, and Darren Afthai, of Northland
Capital Markets, raised his take on Yelp to outperform from market
perform.
With Yelp in the lead, the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 38
points to 3,664. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) and the
Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) were both up more than
1%.
Other notable gainers included Trulia Inc. (TRLA), which rose
almost 26%, to $46.89 a share after the online real-estate
information site posted upbeat quarterly results late
Wednesday.
Teradyne Corp. (TDC) shares rose almost 6%, to $62.46, after the
chip-equipment company reported better-than-expected quarterly
results following Wednesday's market close.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares rose $2.34 to $454.81. Jefferies &
Co. analyst Peter Misek raised his price target on Apple's stock to
$450 a share from $405, adding that he sees a "floor" coming
regarding iPhone shipments. Apple reclaimed the title of the
world's most valuable company by stock-market value.
Dell Inc. (DELL) rose 1.7%, to $12.88 a share, a day ahead of a
special stockholder meeting on Chief Executive Michael Dell's
proposal to take the PC company private in a deal valued at more
than $24 billion.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shares were up by 1.4%, at $247.78. On
Thursday, the company began rolling out a new feature that lets its
subscribers create separate viewing profiles for different
household members.
LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) shares rose more than 3% to $210.32 ahead
of the online professional-networking company's quarterly results,
due after the market close.
Pandora Media Inc. (P) shares climbed more than 3% to $18.96.
Earlier Thursday, the holding company that runs Pandora rival
Spotify said its revenue more than doubled in 2012, but its loss
expanded to the equivalent of $77.7 million, from $60 million in
2011.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) rose $1 a share to $302.26. Bernstein
Research analyst Carlos Kirjner raised his price target on Amazon's
stock to $375 a share from $350, after estimating the company has
25 million Amazon Prime members. Amazon has never disclosed the
number of its Prime membership customers.
Other gains came from Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), IBM Corp. (IBM)
and Google Inc. (GOOG).
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