TripAdvisor Soars 20 Percent After Q3 Results

Shares of online travel recommendation site TripAdvisor

were among the best performing stocks on the NASDAQ Stock Market on Friday. The stock was trading up nearly 20 percent heading into the closing bell at $35.28. After its spin-off from Expedia

TripAdvisor was a top performing stock for much of 2012, hitting a 52-week high above $47.00 in July. A disappointing second-quarter report, however, catalyzed a sell-off in the name throughout the rest of the Summer and into the Fall. The company's strong third-quarter results may break the downtrend in the stock and trigger a further rally into the company's fourth-quarter earnings report. Steve Kaufer, President and CEO of TripAdvisor said, "As we drive continued traffic and content growth on a global scale, we are making wonderful strides to enhance the TripAdvisor experience for both our traveler community and our advertising partners alike. These efforts, and TripAdvisor's record third quarter financial performance, put us squarely on track to meet our 2012 objectives." The company reported third-quarter net income of $59.36 million or $0.41 per share, versus $54.31 million or $0.41 per share, in the year ago period. The discrepancy between the company's net income and EPS was due to a higher share count in the most recent quarter. On an adjusted basis, which is comparable to analysts' consensus, TripAdvisor reported net income of $65.77 million or $0.46 per share, compared to $58.85 million or $0.44 per share, in last year's third quarter. This came in ahead of Wall Street analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $0.42. Total revenues in the period rose 18 percent to $212.71 million versus $180.80 million last year. This also beat Wall Street consensus revenue expectations of $211.30 million. Click-based advertising revenue was up 15 percent in the period to $168.0 million. Display-based ad revenue rose 12 percent to $23.6 million and revenues from subscription and other services climbed 53 percent to $21.1 million. U.S. revenue in the quarter was $105.6 million and represented 50 percent of the company's sales in the period. The other 50 percent of revenue was generated by TripAdvisor's international operations. According to comScore data, TripAdvisor averaged more than 57 million unique monthly visitors in the third quarter.