Priceline released its Q4 2015 earnings on February 17th. The company’s performance topped the expectation of Wall Street analysts. Post Expedia’s impressive performance in Q4 2015, we were curious to find how Priceline had fared, and it turns out that Priceline did not disappoint! What is significant is that Priceline is much more vulnerable to international currency headwinds given that almost 90% of its gross bookings come from outside the U.S. For fiscal year 2015, Priceline’s customers reserved 432 million room nights through its platform, over double the number of that booked through its closest rival, Expedia, (203 million) in the same period. According to Priceline’s management, the business was organically grown by 25%, around 3 percentage points short of the growth rate of 2014. Also, Priceline was the more profitable company between the two in the fourth quarter. While Priceline and Expedia earned revenues to the tune of $2 billion and $1.7 billion respectively, there was a big difference in their adjusted EBITDA where Priceline delivered $790 million as compared to Expedia’s $280 million (Expedia’s adjusted EBITDA got dampened to the tune of $39 million on account of its huge number of investments in Q4).  In this article we discuss the main drivers of Priceline’s growth in the fourth quarter which is going to steer the company ahead in the long term.

from Forbes – Tech http://ift.tt/1SWklUo
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