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Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more

Priceline Approaches $1,000

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Online travel broker Priceline (click ticker for report: ) reported stellar second quarter results Thursday afternoon. Revenue surged 27% year-over-year to $1.7 billion, slightly above consensus estimates. Non-GAAP earnings per share jumped 24% year-over-year to $9.70, far ahead of consensus expectations. Free cash flow year-to-date totaled $740 million, an impressive 25% of total revenue. Our Fair Value Estimates Are Forward-Looking After finishing its acquisition of Kayak in May, Priceline posted gross bookings (total amount spent on travel/rental cars/etc.) of $10.1 billion, 38% higher than the same period a year ago. International bookings drove the lion’s share of the growth, surging 44% year-over-year to $8.6 billion. Image Source: PCLN 2Q 2013 With such robust growth, we think a few trends are … Read more

Priceline Posts Fantastic Third-Quarter Results

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Online travel service and hotel reservations firm Priceline (click ticker for report: ) reported fantastic third-quarter results Thursday that showed solid gross travel bookings expansion and better-than-expected performance in Europe. Our fair value estimate remains unchanged. The company’s revenue advanced 17.4% from the year-ago period thanks to solid performance in its international operations, where sales grew 42% on a local currency basis. Third-quarter travel bookings increased 25.2% and 33.8% on a local currency basis from the same period a year ago. Image Source: Priceline Priceline’s operating income jumped 22.6% and GAAP earnings per share increased over 27% during the period. On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share increased roughly 25% from last year’s quarter, to $12.40, better than consensus expectations of … Read more