UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Increases Target to $38 on Expedia

Stifel Nicolaus reiterates its Buy rating on Expedia

and raise its price target by $3 to $38 a share on reaccelerating ahead, which should offset sloppy results for Q4. Stifel Nicolaus says, "We remain positive on Expedia despite sloppy 4Q11 results which lagged consensus expectations for revenues, adjusted EBITDA and EPS. (We believe 4Q11 estimates generally were imprecise due to the TripAdvisor spin-off in late December 2011.) We maintain our Buy rating because we believe the company's fundamentals will significantly improve in 2H12 and FY13. Our optimism for the next two years is based on Expedia's technology platform investments which have a proven record of driving higher gross bookings growth." EXPE closed at $34.16 a share yesterday.