Between ice storms and snow storms, it’s time for a warm weather vacation. Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) will provide you with hotel, flight, and entertainment options, along with travel-related reviews, for your ultimate getaway. But, while escaping the polar vortex universally sounds like a good idea, analysts are in a standoff about whether to BUY or SELL TRIP following the company’s Q4 results.
-
TRIP INC TRIP
Over the past few quarters, Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) has focused on improving its mobile products as well as fine tuning its latest platform that allows customers to compare hotel pricing and availability information from top advertisers, directly on their website. However, the company has also experienced a slow-down in user growth, putting analysts in a bind about whether to BUY or SELL Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP).
RBC Capital analyst Mark Mahaney recommended BUY TRIP and raised his price target to $95.00 from $68.00 following “a robust ’14 outlook”. Mark noted that revenue growth acceleration for display adverting experienced a 46% year-over-year growth and click-based advertising increased 17%. He also found that the Meta Transition was finally revenue neutral, creating a “better user experience [which] creates higher quality leads, which attracts more ad dollars.” There was also an increase in revenue diversification, “with business listings and vacation rentals now 17% of total revenue and growing 50% year-over-year.” Mark is ranked 57 out of 2385 analysts with a 3.8% average return over S&P-500.
On the other hand, Susquehanna analyst Brian Nowak focused on the negative realities of TripAdvisor and recommended SELL TRIP instead of BUY. Brian did acknowledge that “total ’14 revenue is expected to grow in the mid 20s%”. However, “hotel shopper growth (the focal point throughout 2013) decelerated to 25% year-over-year growth, a 1,200bp sequential deceleration on a one-year basis and a 600bp sequential deceleration on a two-year.” Brian also noted that “it is difficult to see hotel shopper growth not continuing to decelerate going forward.” Brian is ranked 679 out of 2385 analysts and has a 0.7% average return over S&P-500.
Now that the analysts have weighed in, do you still want to take a vacation with TRIP? Which recommendation do you trust? Before you make your decision be sure to review each analysts’ past recommendation history by downloading TipRanks today and start making informed financial decisions with advice you can trust.
