Shares of Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) are up almost 2% in premarket trading Tuesday after the travel agency reported a better-than-expected Q1 adjusted EBITDA and said it expects a strong recovery in leisure travel.
The company reported a Q1 adjusted loss per share of 47c, compared to the loss per share of $2.02 in the year-ago period and expected loss per share of 43c. Revenue stood at $2.25 billion, up 80% YoY and in line with the consensus estimates.
Expedia generated $24.41 billion in gross bookings, just below the estimated $24.53 billion. The travel agency reported stayed room night growth of 52%, while analysts were looking for 64.8%.
Expedia said travel is at the highest level since the coronavirus outbreak, even though the invasion of Ukraine partly weighed on the recovery. The company said it sees positive signs of a robust recovery in leisure travel this summer.
Citi analyst Ronald Josey reiterated a Neutral rating as he believes shares are fairly valued at current levels.
“We emerge incrementally confident that leisure and business travel continue to gain momentum into the seasonally strong summer travel season. We point to April’s accelerating lodging growth of 10% vs. March’s +7% when compared to 2019, and we believe Expedia’s North America business is now fully recovered. We were particularly encouraged with continued strength at VRBO – which bodes well for Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB), which reports tomorrow after the close – and we look for new product announcements from Expedia’s Explore conference later this week,” Josey said in a client note.
Stifel analyst Scott Devit said Expedia delivered “mixed” results.
“Expedia is yet to observe any demand softness stemming from changes in the macro backdrop and continues to expect a notably strong summer travel period. We are modestly reducing our estimates reflecting QTD trends, though we still expect meaningful sequential improvement in 2Q as the travel recovery remains resilient,” Devitt wrote.
By Senad Karaahmetovic