by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
As the recession-pressured market for leisure travel shrinks, the competition for online travel customers is heating up.
Expedia today unveiled an aggressive new promotion, which it calls “Free Nights and No Fee Flights,” offering to pick up the tab for one night in a hotel for stays of three, four or five days at a group of more than 700 participating hotels, and also waiving booking fees for flights booked before the end of May.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Goldman Sachs analyst Jennifer Watson slashed her price target on Orbitz from $6.80 to $2.70 this morning, based on its slow growth in comparison to Expedia and Priceline, and its heavy reliance on consumer fees. Accordingly, the stock has taken a tumble.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Despite the fact that its stock has exploded as much as 36 percent, Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney downgraded his rating of the company, noting widespread evidence of an overall consumer spending decrease. Mahaney loves the Kindle, and believes it’s at least partially responsible for the surge, but cautions that it won’t immediately affect Amazon’s financial results.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
In a post-earnings conference call yesterday, Expedia remarked that the soft market they’d been seeing in the U.S. and U.K. ever since Lehman went bankrupt has now extended to “nearly all” geographies and products–including air, hotels and car rentals. Priceline and Orbitz share the same problem–Orbitz to the greatest extent, since its business is primarily focused on air. Travel well.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
If the economy is going to slow (which it is) and the jobless rate is going rise (which it is) you can safely conclude that people will be traveling less. That’s the core idea behind the call on the online travel sites by Bank of America’s Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald, who today chopped their estimates and price targets on Orbitz (OWW), Expedia (EXPE) and Priceline (PCLN).
by Rick Aristotle Munarriz, Contributor, The Motley Fool
The rumor mills are turning at a feverish pace. Various sources are predicting that Google (GOOG) is about to hook up with eBay’s (EBAY) Skype. And Google’s M&A appetite may not stop there. Shares of Expedia (EXPE) soared 10% yesterday, after an analyst with Susquehanna alluded to rumors that Big G was readying a bid for the travel portal. So bolt yourself to the floor, because a cash-rich Google may be coming for you next.
Just in time for the busiest travel days of the year, Stifel Nicolaus analyst George Askew today turned cautious on the online travel sector. He cut his ratings on Priceline, Expedia and Orbitz to hold from buy.
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