What happened
TripAdvisor (TRIP -1.06%) bucked the sharp downward trend of the wider stock market on Thursday. In contrast to the yawning 3.6% drop of the S&P 500 index, the online travel agency and advice board operator's shares scored a 5.1% gain on the day. That was thanks to two encouraging developments.
So what
TripAdvisor unveiled its first-quarter results after market hours on Wednesday. Lifted by the thrust of the tourism sector's continued recovery, the company managed to double its revenue and then some year over year, to $262 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Of its two business segments, experiences and dining saw the more dramatic improvement, with its take rising by almost 230% to $92 million. Hotels, media, and platform, meanwhile, notched a more-than-respectable 82% rise.
Although the company didn't quite ascend into profitability, it managed to significantly narrow its bottom-line loss. Under non-GAAP (adjusted) standards, this was $13 million ($0.24), far better than the year-ago shortfall of $53 million.
This represented a mixed quarter for TripAdvisor. Although analysts following the stock were collectively expecting only $250.4 million in revenue, they believed the adjusted net loss would be even narrower, at $0.08 per share.
"After an Omicron-impacted January, our business picked up strongly in February and March, resulting in exceeding our own expectations for the quarter," CEO Steve Kaufer said.
Now what
Although TripAdvisor didn't proffer any guidance -- a situation that usually worries investors -- optimism still swirled around the company.
Perhaps that was also due to an apparently smooth CEO transition. The company announced that Kaufer is being replaced by Matt Goldberg, who has long and wide experience in both the media and travel sectors with stints as an executive at such businesses Lonely Planet travel guides and News Corp.
