Why HomeAway Shares Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of online vacation rental marketplace HomeAway climbed 14% today after its quarterly results and guidance impressed Wall Street.

So what: The stock has slumped over the past couple of years on signs of slowing growth, but today's fourth-quarter results -- EPS of $0.05 on a revenue spike of 22.4% -- coupled with upbeat full-year guidance suggests that management's strategic initiatives are finally gaining traction. Specifically, improvements in the company's tiered-pricing platform and geographic bundles are driving higher average revenue per listing, giving investors plenty of optimism over its monetization prospects going forward.

Now what: Management now sees full-year revenue of $339 million-$343 million, nicely ahead of Wall Street's view of $337.4 million. "Of primary focus in 2013 is the continued rollout of our e-commerce capabilities and in particular, the introduction of our pay-per-booking pricing model and continued distribution of value-added services," said CEO Brian Sharples. "[W]e have a very focused product development road map, which we feel confident our team will continue to deliver against." Of course, with the stock hitting a new 52-week high today and sporting a forward P/E of 35, Fools might want to wait for the excitement to die down before buying into that bull talk.

Interested in more info HomeAway? Add it to your watchlist.

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The article Why HomeAway Shares Popped originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends HomeAway. The Motley Fool owns shares of HomeAway. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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