Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

The market expects Yelp (YELP - Free Report) to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on lower revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended September 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on November 5. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis online business reviews company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.43 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -29.5%.

Revenues are expected to be $368.88 million, down 1.9% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 4.42% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Yelp?For Yelp, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +12.50%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #2.

So, this combination indicates that Yelp will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Yelp would post earnings of $0.32 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.62, delivering a surprise of +93.75%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times.

Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Yelp appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Yelp Host, powered by Yelp’s trusted data and now enhanced with GPT-Live-1, transforms restaurant call handling with the most natural voice AI experience available

Hatch’s purpose-built business intelligence, now with GPT-Live-1, brings a new generation of advanced voice AI to help service businesses book more jobs

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), the company that connects people with great local businesses, today announced that it has integrated OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1 into two of its AI-powered business tools: Yelp Host, its voice AI solution for restaurants, and Hatch, its AI communication platform for service businesses. Yelp Host and Hatch are among the first solutions to deploy GPT-Live-1, OpenAI's latest voice model featuring a full-duplex voice architecture, which enables conversations to include natural pauses, interruptions, and overlapping speech.

Yelp and Hatch are among the first to advance voice AI for restaurants and service pros with OpenAI's GPT-Live-1, enabling more natural conversations that can handle interruptions, adapt to tone, and support nearly any language.

Share By integrating GPT-Live-1 as the front-end voice layer—the technology that interacts directly with callers—within each product’s deep business data and purpose-built intelligence, Yelp Host and Hatch deliver more natural conversations with reliable call handling that understands business context and takes action. Callers can interrupt, change topics mid-sentence, or speak to people in the background, and the AI quickly adapts. The voice AIs can also detect the caller’s tone, such as excitement, frustration or impatience, and respond appropriately. By layering Yelp Host and Hatch’s language enhancements on top of GPT-Live-1, the voice AIs can also now automatically detect and respond to callers in nearly any language, so no customers are missed due to a language barrier.

Since launching in October 2025, Yelp Host has handled more than 1 million calls for restaurants. For service businesses, Hatch manages tens of millions of leads across voice, text, email, and web, representing billions of dollars of value attributed to its customers annually.

“We’re excited to be among the first to integrate GPT-Live-1 into Yelp Host and provide the leading AI voice solution for restaurants,” said Akhil Kuduvalli Ramesh, chief product officer at Yelp. “Powered by our reliable business data and frontier tech stack, Yelp Host’s value to restaurants is not only how it sounds, but how deeply it understands each restaurant’s operations. With GPT-Live-1, every call is more conversational and responsive. Yelp Host now gives restaurants an advanced voice AI that delivers exceptional guest experiences, captures revenue opportunities they may have otherwise missed, and helps staff focus on serving guests instead of answering the phone.”

“Hatch is among the first platforms to integrate OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1, and we’re thrilled to deliver a new, more natural real-time voice AI experience for service businesses,” said Chris Bache, co-founder and chief executive officer at Hatch. “Great voice AI requires more than a great voice model. We’ve dedicated years to building the intelligence that understands how service businesses operate, from technician availability and service areas to scheduling rules and emergency routing. GPT-Live-1 transforms how the conversation feels, and Hatch provides the operational intelligence that turns those conversations into booked jobs.”

“We’re bringing GPT-Live-1 to the API so developers can build more natural, powerful voice experiences by pairing it with their choice of models and tools,” said Teri Yu, multimodal product lead at OpenAI. “It’s exciting to see customers like Yelp and Hatch use these capabilities to solve everyday problems for local businesses—from handling reservation calls to scheduling repairs—and bring the benefits of AI to more people."

Yelp Host Delivers a More Capable Voice Experience for Restaurants

Yelp Host with GPT-Live-1 now provides the most advanced, natural-sounding voice experience available for restaurants. Yelp’s proprietary technology stack, trained on each restaurant's business and operational data—including business information on Yelp, reservation availability, food ordering, menu specials, seating areas, and more—differentiates Yelp Host and enables the solution to handle calls with skill and context so staff can focus on serving guests. In production testing at scale, initial results show an improvement in call-handling and a reduction in call transfers.

With the addition of GPT-Live-1, callers now experience a more natural conversational flow, improved turn-taking, and smoother handling of interruptions and background noise. This is reflected in more Yelp Host callers speaking in full, natural sentences during early testing, rather than short voice commands. GPT-Live-1 also delivers sharper post-call transcription accuracy, giving restaurant operators cleaner records of every conversation.

Hatch Elevates the Voice AI Experience for Service Businesses

Hatch's voice AI is built on the same operational logic service businesses already run on. Whether handling a customer service call or qualifying a lead, the agent diagnoses the issue quickly, verifies service area and job details, and uses real-time availability to book appointments. By bringing that operational intelligence together with GPT-Live-1, Hatch’s voice AI delivers more natural conversations that understand business context and result in more booked appointments, faster problem resolution, and higher customer satisfaction.

Hatch’s agents are designed to provide the level of service customers expect, from reaching out with annual service reminders to building new relationships with the tens of millions of leads businesses bring in from third-party sources.

Today's announcement reflects Yelp's broader efforts to deliver smarter, purpose-built AI tools that help local businesses grow and operate more efficiently. From Yelp Host handling reservations and food orders to Hatch powering lead conversion for service businesses, Yelp is building advanced voice AI solutions grounded in real business data that drive measurable results to help businesses succeed.

Additional Information and Assets

For more details about how GPT-Live-1 is enhancing Hatch’s voice AI product and Yelp Host, read the blog on Hatch here, view the Hatch product page here, and explore the Yelp Host product page here. Demos are available for download here. For further information about Yelp, visit the company's Fast Facts page.

About Yelp Inc.

Yelp Inc. (yelp.com) is a community-driven platform that connects people with great local businesses. Millions rely on Yelp to inform their spending decisions and get things done. By combining authentic human content with AI technologies, including Yelp Assistant, Yelp helps people move seamlessly from discovery to taking action, whether it’s requesting quotes from service pros, making reservations, ordering food, scheduling appointments, or connecting with the right businesses for their needs. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in 2004.

About Hatch

Hatch (usehatchapp.com), a Yelp company, is an AI-powered communications platform built for service businesses. By combining conversational AI with purpose-built operational intelligence, Hatch helps businesses turn customer demand into action across voice, text, email, and web. Its AI agent-powered CSRs engage leads, answer and qualify calls, nurture opportunities, and book appointments 24/7, all while integrating with the systems businesses rely on to run their operations. Hatch helps service businesses deliver exceptional customer experiences, convert more opportunities into booked jobs, and build lasting customer relationships. Hatch was founded in 2018 and joined Yelp in 2026.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, Yelp’s future product plans, including the ability of its investments and initiatives to drive profitable long-term growth and shareholder value, which are based on its current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties.

Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences also include, but are not limited to, those factors that could affect Yelp’s business, operating results, and stock price included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Yelp’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q at yelp-ir.com or the SEC’s website at sec.gov.

More News From Yelp Inc.

Yelp (YELP - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.62 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.32 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.67 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +93.75%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this online business reviews company would post earnings of $0.26 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.36, delivering a surprise of +38.46%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.

Yelp, which belongs to the Zacks Internet - Content industry, posted revenues of $375.52 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.74%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $370.39 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Yelp shares have lost about 15.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 12.8%.

What's Next for Yelp?While Yelp has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Yelp was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.57 on $372.56 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.79 on $1.46 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Internet - Content is currently in the bottom 37% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another stock from the same industry, Similarweb (SMWB - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 12.

This digital intelligence company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.03 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +200%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Similarweb's revenues are expected to be $75.5 million, up 6.4% from the year-ago quarter.