Shares of Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) have been flying today, reaching a five year high of just a fraction of a cent below US$120/share.
The US online travel company, one of the pioneers of the sector, released much better, that is 400% better, than expected second quarter results on Thursday evening.
The company reported earnings of US$449.6 million ($3.38 per share) against US$89.4 million ($0.67 per share) a year before. But when adjusted, the EPS figures face some drag and total US$0.89, against US$1.03 a year earlier.
Revenues did climb 11% to $ 1.66 billion while analysts on average expected a quarterly EPS of US$0.85 on revenues of US$1.7 billion.
Expedia dominates the online travel sector, running its own namesake brand as well as apparent alternatives such as Hotels.com, Hotwire and a host of others, all of which contributed to a 19% increase in gross bookings.
Of this, U.S. domestic gross bookings increased 18 percent. International gross bookings, totaling $5.8 billion, grew 25 percent, or 44 percent taking the effect of the higher US dollar in sales beyond the USA.
Expedia’s main challenger is the Priceline Group. Both of them have experienced an acquisition binge in the past year, with Expedia having acquired Travelocity and still hungry for more, announcing its intention to buy Orbitz Worldwide Inc. That transaction is being scrutinized on antitrust concerns, but Expedia’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi said the the deal should close in the second half of the year.