Expedia Sails, Lifts All Boats (EXPE, HOT, HST, WYN, MAR, OWW, PCLN, TRIP)

Internet travel company Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) absolutely pasted revenue and EPS expectations last night, sending the stock on a 25%+ express ride. The company posted revenue of $816.5 million, significantly higher than the consensus estimate of $790.1 million. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.26 versus an estimate of $0.14.

The profit driver was the company’s hotels.com site, which should raise expectations for hotel and resort players like Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT), Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST), Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: WYN), and Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR). All these companies have already reported March quarter results, so we have to wait until June.

Other online travel sites aren’t waiting to move though. Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW), priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN), and TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) have all posted nice gains today.

Orbitz reports results next Thursday and is expected to post an EPS loss of -$0.08 on revenue of $190.3 million. priceline.com reports the following week and is expected to deliver EPS of $3.94 on revenue of $1.04 billion. TripAdvisor is expected to post EPS of $0.34 when it reports next week.

The boost in travel and hotel stocks shouldn’t be too big a surprise, given the higher traffic numbers put up by many US airlines. All those people have to book those flights someplace and stay somewhere once they get to their destinations. These symbiotic relationships could be worth watching as we roll toward the next quarter.

Expedia’s shares are up 26.5% at $41.28 in a 52-week range of $27.28-$65.78. Orbitz is up 7.7% at $3.65 in a 52-week range of $1.57-$4.49, priceline.com is up 4.5% at $766.00 in a 52-week range of $411.26-$774.96, and TripAdvisor is up 8.8% at $37.39 after posting a new 52-week high earlier today of $37.85.

Paul Ausick