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Priceline Q2 View Yanks Partner TripAdvisor Ahead Of Q1 Earnings

Priceline ‘s ( PCLN ) Q2 guidance miss following its CEO’s unexpected resignation weighed on travel stocks Wednesday, tugging shares of partner TripAdvisor ( TRIP ) ahead of the smaller agency’s Q1 earnings report, slated for late Thursday. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , IBD’s 11-company Leisure-Travel Booking industry group was down 8.5% and hit a two-month low, led by a 9% dip in Priceline stock . Shares of TripAdvisor and Expedia ( EXPE ) were down nearly 4% and 2%, respectively. TripAdvisor is the third in the trio to report Q1 earnings. Expedia’s blow-out Q1 report drove the group up 1.6% last Friday. For Q1, the consensus of 26 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expects TripAdvisor to report $370.5 million in sales and 46 cents earnings per share minus items, up 2% and down 15%, respectively, vs. the year-earlier quarter. On a year-over-year basis, it would be the second time in four quarters Tripadvisor’s EPS has fallen and the biggest EPS decline since December 2013. Sales would decelerate for the sixth consecutive quarter. The consensus models $110.16 million earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), down 13% vs. $127 million in the year-earlier period. TripAdvisor didn’t provide guidance during its February Q4 earnings report, noting it would no longer offer an annual sales and EBITDA outlook. Though, CFO Ernst Teunissen cautioned that instant booking would likely continue to dilute near-term results. TripAdvisor and Priceline last year inked a partnership where some of Priceline’s online travel brands participate in TripAdvisor’s instant booking platform.

Priceline Tops Q1 Views, But Stock Collapses On Guidance Miss

Priceline ( PCLN ) stock tanked early Wednesday after the No. 1 online travel agency reported Q1 metrics that topped Wall Street estimates but offered current-quarter guidance that missed the consensus and would mark a year-over-year drop in net income. In morning trading in the stock market today , Priceline shares were down nearly 11% after the firm reported its earnings before the open. Shares of top rival Expedia ( EXPE ) were down nearly 2% Wednesday morning. Priceline reported $10.54 earnings per share minus items on $2.15 billion in sales and $676 million earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). On a year-over-year basis, the three measures rose a respective 30%, 17% and 27%. The consensus of 30 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters modeled $2.12 billion in sales, $9.65 EPS minus items and $620.6 million EBITDA. Room-night stays rose 31% vs. the year-earlier quarter, trailing Expedia’s Q1 growth of 37%. Gross bookings of $16.65 billion grew 21% year over year vs. 32% growth at Expedia. Rental car days grew 11%, but airline tickets fell 7%, Priceline said. “The Priceline Group delivered strong top-line growth and attractive margins in the first quarter,” Chairman and interim CEO Jeffery Boyd said in a statement. “Growth in room-night reservations of 31% reflects continued solid execution in the market for global travel.” Boyd took over last week when Priceline’s board forced the sudden resignation of CEO Darren Huston after an internal investigation into an inappropriate relationship with an employee. Priceline, however, provided current-quarter guidance that lagged views, and Priceline expects EPS and EBITDA to fall on a year-over-year basis — a first for its EPS. Priceline also guided to growth of 15%-22% for room-night stays and 11%-18% for gross bookings vs. the year-earlier quarter, slowing sequentially. For Q2, Priceline sees $11.60-$12.50 EPS ex items and $740 million to $795 million EBITDA, down 3% and 5%, respectively, at the midpoints. The firm guided to 7%-14% year-over-year sales growth (about $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion). The consensus modeled $2.66 billion in sales, $14.98 EPS ex items and $948.1 million EBITDA. Last week Expedia reported strong first-quarter results, including booming gross bookings and room-night stays, sending its  stock up 8% the following day. But Expedia did not provide Q2 guidance.

Priceline Q1 Sales Seen Rising Sharply But Lagging Rival Expedia

A week after its CEO Darren Huston tendered his resignation over an inappropriate-at-work relationship, No. 1 online travel agency Priceline ( PCLN ) is expected Wednesday to report double-digit Q1 sales and earnings growth. The consensus of 30 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, however, doesn’t foresee Priceline surpassing the growth rate for No. 2  Expedia ( EXPE ), which last week reported respective year-over-year gains of 39% and 31% for sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Priceline’s Q1 earnings are slated to come out before the open Wednesday. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Priceline stock was down a fraction, near 1,347. Expedia stock was down more than 1%. Priceline stock broke out of a cup-with-handle base at a 1,361.73 buy point on April 18. Priceline is expected to report $2.12 billion in sales, $9.65 earnings per share minus items and $620.6 million EBITDA, up 15%, 19% and 17%, respectively vs. the year-earlier period. Three months ago, Priceline guided to $9-$9.60 EPS ex items and $580 million to $620 million EBITDA. Sales were guided up 9%-16% vs. the year-earlier quarter, or about $2 billion to $2.13 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Priceline expects room-night stays booked and gross bookings to grow 20%-27% and 12%-19%, respectively. Last week, Expedia reported  Q1 room-night stays and gross bookings rising a respective 42% and 32%. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson reiterated his overweight rating and 1,540 price target last week on Priceline stock. Huston’s resignation isn’t “a risk to near-term financials, but it does pose a slight risk of distraction for employees of the company’s Booking.com segment, as well as investors,” he wrote in a research report. Gillian Tans, chief operating officer and president of Booking.com, was tapped to succeed Huston as Booking.com CEO. Booking.com is Priceline’s accommodations-booking website. Priceline Chairman Jeffrey Boyd, former longtime CEO of the company, assumed the role of interim CEO while it searches for a new CEO.