What happened
Shares of vacation-services company ILG Inc. (NASDAQ: ILG) jumped as much as 12.3% in trading Thursday after it reported fourth-quarter results. Shares held their gains throughout most of the day, and were up 9.6% at 3:30 p.m. EST.
So what
Total revenue declined 3.7% in the quarter to $438 million. But net income more than doubled to $67 million, or $0.54 per share, thanks to a $29 million tax gain versus a tax expense of $11 million a year ago. Adjusted net income actually fell by more than half to $30 million, or $0.24 per share.
Image source: Getty Images.
The fourth quarter had some impact from hurricanes in the Caribbean, so I wouldn't read into the results too much. But management said 2018 revenue would be $1.87 billion to $2.00 billion, at the high end of estimates, and net income would be $154 million to $169 million. That's what really got investors to jump into the stock today.
Now what
The vacation business continues to see strong momentum, despite some turbulence in 2017's hurricane season. Management effectively expects to grow net income from a hurricane-adjusted level of $146 million in 2017 to the $154 million to $169 million I pointed out above. That still makes the stock expensive at 24 times earnings, but if the company can grow net income by low double digits in the long term, it'll be a winner for investors.
