Moonshot Priceline (PCLN) Blows Doors Off Again
The bear story on Priceline is that the recession and oil prices will eventually lead to higher airline fares and fewer tickets sold. This certainly isn't happening yet--in the US (bookings up 50%) or internationally (+70%).
Priceline posted proforma EPS of $0.76 on $403 million in revenue, blowing away consensus of $0.60 and $377 million. Priceline benefitted from robust gross bookings growth across all geographies. In the US, bookings accelerated for the third straight quarter to 51% year-over-year.
See Also: Pricey Priceline Panned
People seem to forget that this is an election year, there's an Olympics happening in a couple of months, US sports playoffs have been huge and I would image that the NHL and NBA Finals won't disappoint either.
Priceline's biggest in has become a) William Shatner...the commercials are cheesy, but memorable and b) Booking.com has been making its way into the US in a big way.
Picking Pricline, or Expedia, or CTrip should be a good rollercoaster ride until Dec.
Disclosure: I don't own any of these stocks, or any stocks period. I keep it all under my mattress.
William Shatner? Really?
No one has ever suggested "Hey, check out Priceline" but that happens all of the time re: Kayak.
That said, I do remember a former Priceline CEO explaining that HE didn't want to name his price (he had people who took care of that stuff), but that millions of others did. And judging by the numbers they keep putting up, he must be right...