Expedia (EXPE) rocketed late Thursday after the online travel agency issued fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst forecasts on strong hotel room night growth. Bellevue, Wash.-based Expedia earned 92 cents a share excluding options expenses, amortization and other items, up 46% from 63 cents a year earlier. That was 6 cents above the average estimate of 29 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 18% to
Analysts see Expedia (EXPE) lifted by recovering global bookings growth and revenue from its Trivago metasearch unit when it reports fourth-quarter results late Thursday. The consensus estimate of 29 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for the online travel agency to post earnings, excluding options expenses, of 86 cents a share, up 37% from 63 cents in the year-ago quarter, on sales of $1.13 billion, up 16%. Analysts on average expect Expedia
Priceline (PCLN) and Expedia (EXPE) shares rose modestly in the stock market today after Evercore Partners raised its price targets on the two online travel stocks. In afternoon trading Wednesday, both stocks were up less than 1%, with Priceline near 1,169 and Expedia near 69.60. Evercore raised its price target for Priceline to 1,350 from 1,250 based on an expected surge in online hotel bookings worldwide. It cited an estimate by tracker