Credit Suisse Assumes Coverage Of Priceline

Stephen Ju of Credit Suisse assumed coverage of Priceline Group Inc PCLN on Monday (due to the departure of the primary analyst) with an unchanged Outperform rating and $1,450 price target.

"Our investment thesis remains unchanged as our rating is based on Priceline's open-ended growth opportunity predicated on continued share gain in the European hotel market," Ju wrote in a note to clients. The analyst adds that its scale in the "fragmented supply base" provides a "structural moat" for its Booking.com business, which will be difficult for competing firms to replicate.

Ju also sees significant growth coming from Asia, as China is the largest outbound travel market at $100 billion in gross travel bookings. The analyst adds that Priceline's 5.8 percent stake in China-based Ctrip gives the company an additional advantage in the region.