Cantor Fitzgerald Says Expedia Had A Strong April

Cantor Fitzgerald is maintaining its Buy rating on Expedia EXPE and raised its price target from $80 to $82.

Analyst Naved Khan cites strong growth in click volume for April, saying, “The elevated level of paid click activity is indicative of higher ad spending on this channel to capitalize on an improved traffic conversion/ROI.”

Kahn also pointed out many more hotels are adopting the Expedia Traveler Preference program (ETP).

“As of 1Q:14, ~51K hotels were offering ETP (vs. ~45K in 4Q13 and ~35K in 3Q13), and we expect Expedia to continue to roll it out to a broader set. Given the meaningful lift in room nights growth at participating hotels, we believe that further rollout of ETP will continue to positively impact EXPE's room nights growth as well.”

Shares of Expedia were last up 0.27 percent to $71.21.