By Ben Fox Rubin
Priceline.com Inc.'s (PCLN) fourth-quarter earnings rose 28% as
the online travel agent's international bookings business continued
to show strength, as did its rental-car sales.
Shares rose 4.6% after hours to $709.33 as the company's
adjusted earnings came in ahead of guidance. As of Tuesday's close,
the stock was up 6% over the past three months.
The company has reported stronger quarterly earnings for several
years on growth in its hotel-bookings business, especially for
international bookings. Priceline's heavy reliance on the hotel
business has helped protect its revenue from a recent pullback in
air travel, which makes up a smaller share of its sales.
Priceline in November agreed to buy Kayak Software Corp. (KYAK)
in a deal that values the online-travel aggregator at $1.8 billion
in cash and stock. The purchase, which was unveiled just a few
months after Kayak debuted as a public company, should give
Priceline a leading source of online travel advertising revenue and
a large base of new site traffic.
Gross bookings rose 33%. International bookings were up 40%,
though that increase was below the 66% rise posted a year earlier.
Domestic bookings improved 4.4%.
The company posted a profit of $288.7 million, or $5.63 a share,
up from $225.7 million, or $4.41 a share, a year earlier. Excluding
restricted stock adjustments and other items, earnings rose to
$6.77 a share from $5.37. Revenue jumped 20% to $1.19 billion.
In November, the company forecast adjusted earnings of $6.12 to
$6.57 a share on revenue growth of about 15% to 22%.
Gross margin rose to 78.9% from 73.1%.
Hotel-room nights sold rose 38% from a year earlier. Rental-car
days sold were up 37%. Airline ticket volume was up 1.7%.
The company predicted first-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.90
to $5.30 a share on revenue growth of about 17% to 24%. Analysts
surveyed by Thomson Reuters most recently expected $5.14 a share
and 19% growth.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com
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