Tag Archives: trip

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.

Airbnb Threat To Priceline, Expedia Overstated: Analyst

Though Airbnb continues to make headlines over its disruption of the travel industry , new research says that online travel agency kings Expedia ( EXPE ) and Priceline ( PCLN ) shouldn’t be as concerned as the hype suggests. In fact, Cowen analyst Kevin Kopelman says in a research report Monday that Airbnb’s competitive pressure on the hotel industry may drive such businesses to further embrace Expedia, Priceline and TripAdvisor ( TRIP ). Airbnb is an online service that lets people rent homes, rooms in homes, and apartments to travelers. The report, based on a survey of 1,400 travelers, also indicated that Airbnb customers aren’t abandoning hotels at all — quite the opposite. It found that 99% used hotels and that many respondents predicted increasing their use of hotels in the coming year. And 72% of those surveyed said that they would consider an Airbnb competitor. All the major online travel agencies are making heavy investments in so-called alternative accommodations, or Airbnb-like inventory. Airbnb has come under fire as of late in its home city of San Francisco after the municipal government released a report indicating that most of its “hosts” — what Airbnb calls people renting property on the platform — aren’t obeying regulations . It’s unclear the extent to which illegal rentals on the site — it’s an issue in other major markets such as New York City as well — will have on the privately held company’s top line. According to the Wall Street Journal , Airbnb may have hauled in $850 million in revenue last year. In 2015, Airbnb waged a campaign to fight proposed new regulations that would have further tightened the short-term rental market in San Francisco. The company spent more than $8 million in fighting and defeating the proposed measure . Airbnb’s opponents have vowed to continue to fight. In early afternoon trading on the stock market today , Priceline stock was up a fraction, near 1,281. Highly rated — its IBD Composite Rating is 92, where 99 is the highest — Priceline is forming a cup-with-handle base with a buy point of 1,371.63. TripAdvisor stock was down more than 2% Monday afternoon, while Expedia stock was flat. Those companies have weak CRs of 50 and 58, respectively. Image provided by Shutterstock .

Online Travel, Other Tech Giants Set Sights On Cuba

As President Obama stands beside Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana and brokers historic talks to thaw relations between the two countries, online travel giants and other Silicon Valley titans have set their sights on building businesses on the island nation. The $8.4 billion tourism industry is likely to swell once Washington allows general tourism to the island nation. For now, a license from the Treasury Department is required for legal travel to Cuba, but the online travel kings have been quick to strike deals to build sales to that nation. Still, online travel firms shouldn’t expect any big returns on their efforts for three to five years, says Douglas Quinby, an analyst with travel research firm Phocuswright. “But once all the ducks are lined up, I think you’re going to see a lot of interest for U.S. travelers,” Quinby told IBD. “It’s a huge Caribbean destination, it’s got great beaches and sun.” Online travel giant Priceline ( PCLN ), via its Booking.com platform, already is setting up shop in Havana and allowing U.S. citizens to reserve and pay for rooms at Cuban and foreign-owned hotels. “Members of our leadership spent many weeks working hand in hand with the Cuban government and tourism authorities, hotel partners, and banks to ensure that when we launch a few weeks from now our customers will experience the secure and seamless service they’ve come to expect from Booking.com,” Todd Dunlap, managing director of Booking.com Americas, told IBD via email. Expedia ( EXPE ) is working on getting travel to Cuba online as well — though it did not share a timetable or a specific date that bookings could begin. “We currently have a team working across multiple channels to help enable U.S.-to-Cuba travel, taking every step to ensure that the solutions align with the laws governing travel between the countries,”  company spokeswoman Sarah Gavin said in an emailed statement. Privately held Airbnb has been operating in Cuba for a year, and is available to U.S. citizens in Cuba. The San Francisco-based firm lets travelers rent homes, rooms in homes and apartments. According to an Airbnb blog post , U.S. visits to Cuba rose 77% in 2015, to 161,000. The company says it’s working closely with the Cuban government. TripAdvisor ( TRIP ) spokeswoman Julie Cassetina told IBD via email that the company is “now displaying hotel metasearch for Cuban hotels” on its website, but she declined to make executives available for an interview. Silicon Valley Heads To Havana Outside of the online travel agency kings, the tech contingent included IBD Leaderboard stock PayPal ( PYPL ). In a blog post Sunday, PayPal CEO Dan Shulman outlined his case for targeting Cuba. The major cash cow for the firm is likely to be in assisting Cubans who receive money from sources in the U.S., an influx which at the moment, according to the blog , accounts for $2 billion, or 3%, of the Cuban economy each year. It’s a chance for PayPal to expand the reach of its Xoom subsidiary, which handles international transfers. PayPal bought Xoom for $890 million in July 2015. The blog also makes the pitch that PayPal plans to find ways to attract Cuban small businesses — which at the moment are mostly not set up to process credit and debit cards. Privately held Stripe, which competes with PayPal payments-processing subsidiary Braintree, also made the trip to Cuba. Stripe  said in a blog  that it would start offering Cuban businesses the ability to set up bank accounts and incorporate in the U.S. On the trip, President Obama said Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google would try to help ensure that Cubans have access to broadband Internet, which remains scarce, especially outside of large cities. “We know, from the experience of many countries around the world, that new technologies and improved internet access can help people in their daily lives, provide new information and experiences, and help harness a country’s creativity and ingenuity,” Brett Perlmutter, the Cuba lead for Google Access,  wrote in a blog post Monday. “We hope to have the chance to offer more services to the Cuban people in the future.” Xerox ( XRX ) CEO Ursula Burns also attended the trip in a fact-finding capacity. “Recent changes in U.S. regulations may afford new commercial opportunities in Cuba,” Burns told IBD in an emailed statement, “but the parameters of those opportunities are not always obvious. The U.S. government has worked hard to describe what the recent changes mean. I think part of my job on this trip is to evaluate what they mean in light of the economic realities here in Cuba.”