Category Archives: oud

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.

SigFox ‘Internet of Things’ Plan Challenges AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile

Internet-of-Things (IoT) startup SigFox says it will expand its wireless network using unlicensed frequencies to 100 U.S. cities, posing a challenge to AT&T ( T ), Verizon Communications ( VZ ) and T-Mobile ( TMUS ). The IoT refers to wireless technology that connects industrial, medical, automotive and consumer devices to the Internet. Wireless networks operated by Verizon and AT&T are competing with non-cellular technologies  — mainly Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee — in IoT deployment. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have been counting on the IoT, also called machine-to-machine communications (M2M), as a growth driver amid fierce price competition in wireless data services. Both AT&T and Verizon have been focused on Web-connected cars, as well as “smart cities” that have remote monitoring of street lights, utility meters and road conditions. France-based SigFox has been targeting industrial IoT applications. SigFox uses unlicensed, Wi-Fi-type radio frequencies to connect M2M devices. It’s well-funded , having raised more than $150 million from investors, according to TechCrunch. SigFox began testing its technology in Silicon Valley in 2014. According to SigFox, it has 7 million devices connected to its network in 18 countries. “U.S. is a huge growth market for Internet of Things connectivity, especially in smart cities, utilities, shipping and agriculture sectors that require large-scale and cost-effective communication,” said Allen Proithis, president of SigFox North America, in a press release. AT&T and Verizon are pushing the federal government to make high-frequency radio spectrum available for 5G services, which include low-power IoT applications.

Can Alibaba Beat Earnings Expectations On This Important Metric?

China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ) will post quarterly earnings before the market open Thursday, with investors hoping for a strong boost in the value of goods sold on its various platforms. Analysts are looking for the China e-commerce giant to report revenue of $3.58 billion, up 33% in local currency, and EPS of 56 cents, up 21% in local currency, for the company’s fiscal Q4 ended March 31. Alibaba reported better-than-expected fiscal Q3 earnings, but shares fell 4% that day due to a slowdown in a key metric known as gross merchandise volume. GMV is the total value of goods sold on the Alibaba platforms. In fiscal Q3, Alibaba’s GMV rose 23% to $149 billion, slowing from an increase of 28% in fiscal Q2. For the March quarter, Wall Street expects Alibaba is to report GMV growth of 22%, to $112 billion. Among those looking above that consensus, ITG Investment Research analyst Henry Guo projects GMV growth of 23.5%, while RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney pegs it at a more optimistic 29%. Mahaney rates Alibaba stock outperform, with a price target of 89. Alibaba stock was down a fraction, near 75.50, in morning trading in the stock market today . The stock is up 27% from a seven-month low of 59.25 touched on Feb. 9. Alibaba competes with JD.com ( JD ), Baidu ( BIDU ) and Tencent Holdings ( TCEHY ) in various segments of China’s Internet economy. JD is China’s largest online direct-sales retailer, Tencent dominates in messaging and gaming, and Baidu is China’s search leader. The four are the largest Internet companies in China and have been investing aggressively in new areas to spur growth. JD is scheduled to report earnings before the market open on May 9.