Category Archives: TRIP

On February 12, 2015, news of Expedia (EXPE) buying Orbitz (OWW) combined with the earnings release by TripAdvisor (TRIP) has resulted in OWW increasing +21.83% while TRIP has increased by +23.76%.  This cannot be good news for Priceline (PCLN) shareholders as the likelihood of the company overpaying for TRIP grows.

Our February 6, 2015 Nasdaq 100 Watch List had the following review of TripAdvisor and Priceline:

A couple of stocks that have caught our eye are Priceline (PCLN) and TripAdvisor (TRIP).  Both stocks are low in price relative to their March 2014 peaks. 

There has been some recent talk about PCLN absorbing TRIP in a buyout.  Below is the relative price difference between PCLN and TRIP.  In the last year, mid-November 2014 was the best time for PCLN to leverage the stock price to buy TRIP while July 2014 was the worst time to use stock to buy TRIP.

While PCLN has changed on a relatively small basis over the last year, Ctrip.com (a company that we correctly analyzed on December 2011) has had a tremendous amount of relative price change over TRIP in the last year.

While TripAdvisor (TRIP) may not be the best investment over Priceline (PCLN) on a fundamental basis, the potential for a buyout of TRIP may make good investment sense due to the need to eliminate a competitor or to take advantage of existing clients, assets or infrastructure.  Things could get worse for the market overall, pushing all of the stocks in the sector down. Barring a general market correction, investors probably have until the middle of December 2015 for a deal to be hammered out if the stock price doesn’t recover from the current levels.

We remain confident that TripAdvisor is the best relative value in the competition elimination game for the sector.  In reality, Ctrip.com acquiring TRIP is very unlikely.  However, we believe that with the recent jump in the price of TRIP, Priceline will feel the burn and get into a rampant bidding war for TRIP.  This could result in TRIP being acquired for well above the most recent 52-week high of $110. 

Below are the downside targets along with the conservative/extreme upside targets for TRIP based on Gould’s Speed Resistance Lines.  Non-members of our site wishing to view the upside/downside targets can send an email to nlo@newlowobserver.com.