Boston, MA 02/27/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) is the online booking portal which has substantial brand position in the US over other global players such as Agoda.com or Booking.com.
For Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) a dominant part of the bookings are for North American hotels. Interestingly reviews on Priceline.com indicate that the hotel reservations have increased in the domestic bookings only. This factor also highlights the intensity of expansion of Booking.com across the U.S. markets. In December 2013, Priceline.com showed that it had 44k reviews, in comparison to the TTM statistics which were at 768 thousand reviews.
Low guidance
Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) has indicated low guidance, much below EPS analyst estimates for the first quarter of 2014. This has now been revised downwards to nearly $6.25. However, most analysts believe that priceline.com has more to deliver and there may be room for surprises, down the line.
Another point which the company has been able to establish itself, despite the stiff competition from overseas operators is the quality and quantity of reviews during the previous quarter.
In fact Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) saw an incredible lifetime high following one of the most exciting quarters to date for the company. This has also own the attention of analysts. Meanwhile, bookings to this online portal are increasingly being made on mobiles. Hence, it’s spend on advertising is therefore justified by the growing number of users. Priceline.com has been successful in providing device-based access to the various features it offers, one of the unique selling points.
Kayak integration
The integration with Kayak too has helped in the company enhancing its advertising. This has also meant the net payments to Kayak and Kayak’s own drop is gross advertising spend in comparison to other brands has proved to be an advantage.
Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) EPS is dependent on the seasonality of the business and was before Kayak was integrated as a service. Hence the expectation as well as the performance for this quarter is indeed significant.
