eLong Travels by Air: Fool by Numbers

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On May 14, Chinese online travel services company eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) released first-quarter earnings for the period ended March 31.

• Revenue increased by 26.8% to $8.5 million, driven by a 50% increase in air ticketing stemming from an increase in volume, while revenue per air ticket remained constant.
• The company recently experienced a change in management, with Tom SooHoo resigning as CEO. Henrik Kjellberg, the company's chairman since March of 2007 and president of Expedia Asia Pacific -- a division of Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) -- will serve as the interim CEO.
• The company expects revenue to be in the range of $9.5 to $10.5 million in Q2, a 9% to 21% increase year over year.
• eLong is a whopping five-star stock in CAPS, our free interactive stock database, beating Chinese competitor Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) and domestic Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN), which hold four and three stars, respectively.

(Figures in thousands, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Sales	$8,453	$6,669	26.8%
Net Profit	($101)	($1,521)	N/A
EPS	$0.00	($0.03)	N/A
Diluted Shares	50,685	50,354	0.7%

Get back to basics with the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change*
Gross Margin	72.9%	75.4%	(2.5)
Operating Margin	(7.9%)	(29.0%)	21.1
Net Margin	(1.2%)	(22.8%)	21.6

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$153,435	$121,887	25.9%
Accounts Rec.	$4,863	$4,538	7.2%
Inventory	N/A	N/A	N/A

Liabilities	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Accounts Payable*	$15,521	$11,641	33.3%
Long-Term Debt	N/A	N/A	N/A

*Includes accrued expenses and other payables.

The balance sheet reflects the company's health.

Cash Flow Highlights
eLong must be on vacation, because it forgot to include a cash flow statement.

Free cash flow is a Fool's best friend.

Related Foolishness:

• eLong Comes Up Short
• You're Missing Out on China
• It's a Chinese Buffet, Pal

Ctrip.com is a Hidden Gems pick, while Priceline.com is a Stock Advisor recommendation. A free 30-day trial to either newsletter will have your portfolio dancing across continents.

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.