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November 09, 2010, 4:17 PM EST
By Douglas MacMillan
(Updates with closing share price in fourth paragraph.)
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Priceline.com Inc., the second- largest online travel agency, rose the most in more than three months in Nasdaq trading after forecasting fourth-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
Profit this quarter, excluding some items, will be $2.91 to $3.06 a share, the company said yesterday in a statement. Analysts had projected earnings of $2.68 a share.
A rebound in travel to Europe and Asia led travelers to use Priceline to arrange more hotel stays, fueling a 54 percent gain in booked room nights. An increase in international flight bookings also boosted the results.
Priceline, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, rose $32.07, or 8.3 percent, to $420.65 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have almost doubled this year.
Third-quarter sales gained 37 percent to $1 billion, exceeding the $974 million average projection in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Profit excluding some costs was $5.33 a share, topping the $4.97 predicted by analysts.
Net income fell 30 percent to $223 million, or $4.41 a share, from $319 million, or $6.42, a year earlier.
--Editors: Lisa Wolfson, Ville Heiskanen
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 closing share price in fourth paragraph.)
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Priceline.com Inc., the second- largest online travel agency, rose the most in more than three months in Nasdaq trading after forecasting fourth-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
Profit this quarter, excluding some items, will be $2.91 to $3.06 a share, the company said yesterday in a statement. Analysts had projected earnings of $2.68 a share.
A rebound in travel to Europe and Asia led travelers to use Priceline to arrange more hotel stays, fueling a 54 percent gain in booked room nights. An increase in international flight bookings also boosted the results.
Priceline, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, rose $32.07, or 8.3 percent, to $420.65 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have almost doubled this year.
Third-quarter sales gained 37 percent to $1 billion, exceeding the $974 million average projection in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Profit excluding some costs was $5.33 a share, topping the $4.97 predicted by analysts.
Net income fell 30 percent to $223 million, or $4.41 a share, from $319 million, or $6.42, a year earlier.
--Editors: Lisa Wolfson, Ville Heiskanen
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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