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November 08, 2010, 4:54 PM EST
By Douglas MacMillan
(Updates with analyst’s comment in fourth paragraph.)
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Priceline.com Inc. rose as much as 8.1 percent in extended trading after forecasting fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates.
Profit, excluding some items, will be $2.91 to $3.06 a share, the company said. Analysts had projected profit of $2.68 a share.
Priceline said it benefited from growing demand for hotel stays, which resulted in a 54 percent increase in booked room nights. Results were also buoyed by a surge in international bookings and growth in Europe and Asia, said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Caris & Co. in San Francisco.
“We are expecting the online travel industry to grow 12 to 14 percent globally, so clearly they are gaining market share,” said Aggarwal, who has a “buy” rating on Priceline and doesn’t own it.
Priceline rose $22.12, or 5.7 percent, to $410.70 in extended trading. It had fallen 29 cents to $388.58 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have climbed 78 percent this year.
--Editors: Tom Giles, Lisa Wolfson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net.
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(Updates with analyst’s comment in fourth paragraph.)
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Priceline.com Inc. rose as much as 8.1 percent in extended trading after forecasting fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates.
Profit, excluding some items, will be $2.91 to $3.06 a share, the company said. Analysts had projected profit of $2.68 a share.
Priceline said it benefited from growing demand for hotel stays, which resulted in a 54 percent increase in booked room nights. Results were also buoyed by a surge in international bookings and growth in Europe and Asia, said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Caris & Co. in San Francisco.
“We are expecting the online travel industry to grow 12 to 14 percent globally, so clearly they are gaining market share,” said Aggarwal, who has a “buy” rating on Priceline and doesn’t own it.
Priceline rose $22.12, or 5.7 percent, to $410.70 in extended trading. It had fallen 29 cents to $388.58 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have climbed 78 percent this year.
--Editors: Tom Giles, Lisa Wolfson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net.
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