Priceline Under Siege Despite Q1 Beat

'' The Priceline Group Inc.

shares are trading lower by $62 at $1202.15 in Thursday's session. Despite posting a Q1 beat ($8.12 vs. Est. $7.72) along with better sales ($1.84B vs Est $1.8B), the company issued much lower guidance for EPS for Q2 ($10.95-$11.75 vs. Est $13.10). Off the Q1 beat, the issue spiked to $1280, from its $1264.15 close, but sharply reversed course when the lower guidance for Q2 was announced. The counter move has the issue at $1220 just ahead of the opening bell. The selling continued shaving nearly another $40 off until it finally found a bottom at $182.02, nearly $100 off the premarket high. That low coincides with April 14 ($1182.48). It did manage to rebound and make a new at $1227.89 before falling back to its current level. It has not closed under $1200 since April 21, when it ended the session at $1194.26. Today's sharp decline is taking place on much higher than normal as it has already traded 1.7M shares compared with its 20 day average of 618k shares with two hours remaining in the session.