Expedia stock rallied above a buy point Friday. The travel firm late Thursday reinstated its dividend and cleared Q4 estimates as bookings accelerated.
Expedia reported a 39% increase in earnings to $2.39 per share adjusted on 10% revenue growth to $3.18 billion. FactSet analysts expected earnings of $2.09 per share on $3.07 billion in revenue.
Booked room nights increased 12% for the quarter to 86.4 million. Gross bookings jumped 13% to $24.4 billion.
CEO Ariane Gorin noted the results reflected better-than-expected travel demand during the quarter, while bookings across all three of Expedia's brands grew.
Expedia's B2C and B2B gross bookings growth accelerated 5 points to 9% and 24%, respectively.
The company noted it repurchased over 12 million shares for about $1.6 billion in 2024. Expedia also reinstated its quarterly dividend, and will pay out a 40 cent dividend starting in March 2025.
A number of analysts hiked their price targets on EXPE stock after Thursday night's results, noting the strong booking and room night performance.
Benchmark lifted its price target on Expedia to 225 from 200 and kept a buy rating on the shares. Wells Fargo raised its target for EXPE to 199 from 168 but maintained an equal weight rating on the stock. HSBC upgraded Expedia to buy from hold with a 215 price target.
Expedia Stock
EXPE stock jumped 1.3% Friday to rebound above its 50-day line, and clear a 192.34 buy point for a nine-week flat base. Investors could have used 191.10 as an early entry.
Shares of rival Booking Holdings pared gains to 2.3% Friday, and attempted to push above its 50-day line. BNKG stock is trading near the bottom of its own flat base, with a 5,337.24 buy point.
For Booking's results on Feb. 20, FactSet expects a 12.6% increase in earnings to $36.03 per share on 8.3% revenue growth to $5.18 billion.
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