Yelp Stock Hits Nearly 5-Year High After Bull Notes

Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) is up 7.1% at $46.20 at last check, after the crowd-sourced review name reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue after yesterday's close. No fewer than three analysts raised their price targets in response, with Craig-Hallum hiking its objective $60 from $54.

There's plenty of room for other brokerages to follow suit. In fact, six of the eight firms in coverage call YELP a "hold" or worse, while the remaining two say "strong buy." Plus, the 12-month consensus target price of $42.80 is currently an 8.1% discount to current levels.

The equity is trading at its highest level since October 2018, blowing past resistance at the $45 level that capped a rally earlier this week. Support at the 20-day moving average has been in place since early May, and so far this year Yelp stock has added more than 69%.

Short-term options traders have been pessimistic toward Yelp stock, too. This is per the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) 1.12, which ranks higher than 76% of readings from the past year. An unwinding of these bearish bets would push shares even higher on the charts.