What: Investors in TripAdvisor (TRIP 4.43%) have reason to cheer on Thursday as the company's stock is up more than 17% as of 12:30 p.m. EST after it released its fourth quarter results.
So what: Revenue for the period climbed 7% to $309 million, trouncing the $297.9 million that Wall Street expected. On a currency neutral basis the growth rate would have been 12%.
On a Non-GAAP basis earnings per share came in at $0.45 for the period, up 29% versus the same time a year ago. That result flew past Wall Street's estimate of only $0.32.
With the company handily beating estimates on both the top and bottom its easy to see why shares line are skyrocketing Thursday.
Now what: TripAdvisor continues to prove that it's the go-to site for any traveler looking for help in booking their trip as the company's now counts more than 320 million reviews on its site. TripAdvisor continues to crush it in mobile, as the company's app has been downloaded more than 290 million times and 53% of its total unique visitors come from mobile devices.
The company also continues to see success with its instant booking platform as it now has eight of the top 10 major hotel chains in the world on board. That's in addition to the major deal that it signed in 2015 to bring its competitor The Priceline Group (PCLN 1.56%) to the platform. In total, users can now use the instant booking feature to reserve a room at more than 450,000 hotels around the globe using.
TripAdvisor's CEO Steve Kaufer stated:
"User reviews and opinions reached 320 million and our content continues to attract the world's largest global travel audience. We are building on those advantages by launching instant booking globally, and enabling more users to seamlessly book places to stay, things to do and places to eat – all conveniently on TripAdvisor."
With the Priceline Group and a majority of the major hotel chains are signed up to its instant booking platform TripAdvisor has built up a huge amount of momentum that should power its results higher as it heads into 2016.
While the company's shares continue to trade for a premium price tag, I have a hard time thinking of them as expensive given the company's strong competitive position and huge runway for growth. Investors looking for a great growth stock might want to give this company a closer look.
