Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Homeaway (AWAY.DL) were moving higher today, up as much as 13% after the company delivered a strong second-quarter earnings report.
So what: The vacation-rental website said revenue jumped 31.9% in the quarter to $114.3 million, ahead of estimates at $110.4 million, and adjusted earnings per share fell by a penny, but still beat the analyst consensus at $0.12. Operating profit was actually up more than 50% in the quarter, a sign of strength and operating leverage, but EPS fell because of over $4 million in interest expenses as the company took on $300 million in new debt earlier this year.
Now what: CEO Brian Sharples called it "another great quarter," as the results beat Homeaway's own expectations, and he noted that home listings on the company's websites hit a new milestone, at 1 million. Looking ahead, revenue guidance for the current quarter and the full year was also ahead of expectations as Homeaway sees sales for the year at $444 million-$449 million, against the consensus at $441 million. As the success of rival AirBnB has also shown, there is plenty of room for growth in the home-based vacation rental space. I'd expect Homeaway's strong growth to continue in the coming years as well.
