Yelp IPO still expected, despite signs of weaknessYelp Inc. is still expected to price its initial public offering Thursday evening –despite some signs of weakness that have crept into the IPO market. Two debuts that were scheduled to trade on Thursday –GCT Semiconductor and Provident Mortgage Capital –were postponed by the underwriters. Both had seen signs of weakening demand leading up to their expected pricings. Provident filed papers on Wednesday cutting the size of its offering to 5 million shares from the previously expected 8.33 million shares. Scott Sweet of IPO Boutique said Thursday morning that underwriters are still expecting to price Yelp’s IPO on Thursday afternoon, with the stock expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday morning under the ticker symbol “YELP.” The company plans to sell 7.1 million shares at a price range of $12-$14 per share –which could raise about $100 million at the high end of the range. However, even Yelp seems to be facing some headwinds. In an e-mail to clients early Thursday, Sweet lowered his rating on the IPO to 3 from 4, citing channel checks revealing “serious concern regarding current and future competition,” even though he says the deal remains “multiple times oversubscribed.” He later moved that rating back up to 4, citing feedback that the price range of the IPO “will be in all likelihood at the high end or higher” of the expected range. Yelp is the latest in a round of IPOs from the Internet/social media space, following the likes of LinkedIn , Zynga and Groupon last year. It is also expected to be the last of these deals until social networking giant Facebook pulls the trigger on its own IPO; the company made its first S-1 filing on Feb. 1 and is expected to price the deal sometime in May, though that could change easily depending on market conditions and other factors. Yelp saw revenue jump 75% in 2011 to $83.3 million, but the company remains in the red, reporting a net loss of $16.7 million for the period. It claims about 66 million current monthly unique visitors.YELP 0.00% LNKD +0.15%GRPN -0.77%