Bank of America has upgraded its rating on Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral,’ citing accelerating activist involvement and increasing strategic optionality across the company’s portfolio.
The firm set a price target of $15, compared with Tripadvisor’s closing price of $9.95 on Thursday. Shares added more than 5% on Friday to trade above $10.
The upgrade follows growing engagement from Starboard Value, which took a 9% stake in Tripadvisor in July 2025 and has since pushed for Board changes and a review of the company’s strategic options.
“We see a clearer catalyst path for value realization driven by accelerating activist engagement and rising strategic optionality across the portfolio,” the analysts wrote.
Last month, Tripadvisor added four new directors to its Board under a cooperation agreement with Starboard, a move Bank of America believes improves the likelihood of asset-level actions.
The bank’s analysts estimate that Tripadvisor’s experiences marketplace, Viator, and European restaurant reservation platform, TheFork, could be worth more than $2.5 billion combined, roughly double the company’s current enterprise value of about $1.3 billion. Viator is valued between $1.3 billion and $2.5 billion, while TheFork is estimated between $372 million and $1.1 billion.
The bank notes that Tripadvisor’s hotel meta-search business continues to face structural headwinds, but independent valuation of Viator and TheFork presents a clearer path for realizing shareholder value.
Potential risks include competition, execution challenges, and ongoing pressure from the hotel segment.