Expedia
stock plunged 14.5% early Thursday, despite beating earnings expectations, as revenue and bookings fell short of lofty expectations.
The online travel company (ticker: EXPE) reported record revenue of $3.36 billion in the second quarter, but that wasn’t enough to beat high expectations amid a boom in international travel demand this summer.
The company reported adjusted earnings of $2.89 per share—a 48% jump from the same quarter last year and beating estimates of $2.35, according to FactSet data. However, revenue rose 6% to $3.36 billion—narrowly missing analysts’ estimates of $3.37 billion.
Gross bookings rose 9% to $27.3 billion but analysts were looking for $28.3 billion. Lodging bookings notched a second-quarter record of $19.2 billion, but were lower than the first quarter—perhaps suggesting a further softening ahead.
For the third quarter, typically the strongest quarter for
Expedia
and other online travel agencies, the company expects gross bookings to grow by a high-single-digit percentage, management said on its earnings call. That fell short of analysts’ expectations for a 10.4% rise year-over-year, according to FactSet estimates.
They expect “modest sequential acceleration” when it comes to revenue growth, while analysts are forecasting an 8.6% jump.
Before earnings, the stock had climbed 35% so far this year and, given the surge in travel demand, the market was always likely to punish any missteps.
Write to Callum Keown at [email protected]
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