priceline.com's Earnings Beat Last Year's by 26%

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

priceline.com (NAS: PCLN) reported earnings on Feb. 26. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), priceline.com met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly. Non-GAAP earnings per share increased significantly. GAAP earnings per share increased significantly.


Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
 priceline.com notched revenue of $1.19 billion. The 23 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for a top line of $1.19 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 20% higher than the prior-year quarter's $990.8 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $6.77. The 26 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $6.50 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $6.77 for Q4 were 26% higher than the prior-year quarter's $5.37 per share. GAAP EPS of $5.63 for Q4 were 28% higher than the prior-year quarter's $4.40 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 78.9%, 580 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 31.4%, 70 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 24.2%, 140 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $1.24 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $5.16.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $6.31 billion. The average EPS estimate is $37.64.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,250 members out of 1,613 rating the stock outperform, and 363 members rating it underperform. Among 412 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 331 give priceline.com a green thumbs-up, and 81 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on priceline.com is outperform, with an average price target of $741.40.

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The article priceline.com's Earnings Beat Last Year's by 26% originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool recommends Priceline.com. The Motley Fool owns shares of Priceline.com. 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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