How Priceline Gets To $1,700

• Shares of Priceline Group Inc PCLN have appreciated 13.69 percent over the past one month, rising to $1235.56 on February 17.
• RBC Capital’s Mark S. Mahaney has reiterated an Outperform rating on the company, with a price target o f $1,700.
• While the company reported better than expected results for Q4, Mahaney mentioned that Priceline continues execute “extremely well.”

The company reported its Q4 results with total bookings, revenue and EPS beating the estimates and the consensus.

Analyst Mark Mahaney believes that this beat could be attributed to falling airfares, as well as stabilizing FX, which in turn has been attracting more global travelers.

“PCLN seeing strength across all regions and is especially benefiting from nonHotel bookings, self-managed business bookings, and China Outbound,” Mahaney said.

In addition, the 1Q16 guidance, including the bookings, revenue, EBITDA and EPS, in-line with the consensus expectations, and implying potential acceleration in total bookings, gross profit and room night growth.

Management does not expect any significant macro weakness during Q1.

With growth and profitability trends continuing to be strong, Mahaney expressed confidence in Priceline being able to see accelerating growth during 2016, partly driven by stabilizing FX, as well as meaningful new growth opportunities that the company has been investing in for several years now.

According to the RBC Capital report, Priceline’s growth rates are likely to be sustainable “for a substantial period.”