A Number Of Improvements Expected From TripAdvisor's Q3 Release

Tripadvisor Inc TRIP is scheduled to report its third quarter earnings results after the market close.

Naved Khan of Cantor Fitzgerald maintained a Hold rating and $67 price target heading into the earnings print. The analyst believes the company will show continued progress in improving monetization initiatives surrounding its Instant Book feature and mobile hotel shoppers.

Khan is expecting the company to earn $0.61 per share on revenue of $447 million and EBITDA of $139 million. Growth in hotel revenue (78 percent of total revenue) is expected to be higher by 3 percent (at $350 million) year-over-year, which represents an improvement from the -8 percent growth seen in the second quarter.

Non-hotel revenue is also expected to grow 27 percent year-over-year to $97 million, which also represents an acceleration from 21 percent growth seen in the second quarter.

Traffic, Updates

Khan noted that worldwide traffic data from comScore showed a slowdown in growth of 1,800 basis points quarter-over-quarter to -16 percent year-over-year among PC unique visitors to TripAdvisor's sites. In addition growth in total unique visitors (PC and mobile) in the US decelerated 1,400 basis points quarter-over-quarter to -6 percent year-over-year.

Part of the traffic decline could be attributed to changes in Google's algorithms, which is creating headaches for sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp Inc YELP.

Finally, the analyst is expecting management to provide an update to its outlook for the full year 2016, which should be in-line with Wall Street's "muted" expectations of just 2 percent year-over-year growth in revenue and a 17 percent year-over-year decline in EBITDA.

It's also important to keep in mind that TripAdvisor's name has been mentioned as a potential takeover candidate by the industry titan Priceline Group Inc PCLN.