Expedia reports sharp rise in Q3 earnings and revenue

Expedia Inc reported a sharp increase in quarterly earnings and revenue on Thursday, beating Wall Street expectations.

The online travel services giant posted earnings of $283 million in the third quarter, a 10 percent increase compared to the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $276 million, or $2.07 per share.

Revenue rose to $1.94 billion from $1.71 billion.

The results beat what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast of profit of $2.02 a share on $1.96 billion in revenue.

Gross bookings increased 21% from a year ago to $15.4 billion. Domestic bookings, which account for about 62% of total bookings, climbed up 22% from the year earlier and international bookings rose an impressive 19%.

“The third quarter was another strong one for Expedia,” Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on a conference call. “We continue to invest in people, processes and technology, and our organization is on-boarding hotels in record time at higher quality than we ever have.”

The company didn’t provide a fourth quarter outlook other than narrowing its forecast for this year’s growth in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to between 12% and 15%.

The company expects the acquisition of Orbitz, which it bought for $1.3 billion last month, to yield more benefits than expected.

Expedia Chief Financial Officer Mark Okerstrom said in an interview that the company now expects more than the $75 million per year in revenue that it previously forecast would come from the Orbitz buyout.

However, integration will still take time. ”The bulk of the integration work is expected to take place in the next nine months,” with some units taking over a year, Khosrowshahi said.

Expedia shares rose 7.6 percent in after-market trading hours.