Trip.com (TCOM); (former Ctrip); HK 9961

[winston]

not vested

Ctrip.com International Ltd. (CTRP), China’s largest online travel agency, surged 8.6 percent in its seventh day of increase to $17.36, the biggest gain in seven months.

Ctrip’s smaller rival Elong Inc. (LONG) declined for a second day, losing 1.8 percent to $15.45.

Ctrip announced last month a $500 million product sales plan to boost its market share and Elong followed, joining a price war among Chinese online travel agencies, The China National Radio reported on its website Aug. 22, citing ads on the companies’ websites and social media platforms.


Source: Bloomberg

[winston]

Price war among mainland online travel agencies to leave few survivors

The mainland's biggest online travel agent, Ctrip, says the fierce price war being waged by online agencies will leave only a few survivors in the industry.


Source: SCMP

[winston]

not vested

Best Stocks to Buy Now for Earnings Growth: Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (CTRP)
Expected 5-Year EPS Growth: 47% annually
Expected FY 2016 EPS Growth: 855%

It seems that many on Wall Street have already caught up to the potential of Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CTRP) — the CTRP stock price has soared 40% already in 2015.

Of course, it would be awfully difficult for Ctrip, an online Chinese aggregator of travel bookings — think American peers like Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) and Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) — to fly under the radar for long.

Although CTRP has trailed the remarkable returns of EXPE and PCLN over the last five years, that might be a different story in the next five years as Ctrip improves its bleak margins and grows earnings.

With a net profit margin of just 3.3% in the trailing 12 months, Ctrip has plenty of room for improvement.

It’s not hard to see how CTRP stock could see exponential earnings growth if it gets its margins closer to Priceline’s (28%) while increasing sales along the way.

Source: InvestorPlace

[winston]

not vested

Ctrip reported a beat at both top and bottom lines with 1Q revenues of CNY 2.3bn, up 46% y/y.

1Q EPS of CNY 0.23 also surpassed market consensus for a net loss.

!Q revenue growth was driven by 46% growth in air-ticketing business and 53% growth from tour bookings.

Significantly, 70% of these bookings are now made via mobile, suggesting the attractiveness of the online model especially for last-minute bookings.

Management has guided for 45–50% growth in 2Q revenues, ahead of expectations, and no incremental rise in expenses, suggesting that 2015 operating margins will start
to expand on scalability benefits.

Management also mentioned they saw no signs of a flare up of irrational competition which hurt the company's margins badly in 2014.

The company has many new initiatives includingtrain and bus ticketing, package tours, and cruise ships, and expects these to make solid profit contributions by year-end.

Source: UBS

[winston]

not vested

Online Travel Shakeup: CTRP Buys eLong From Expedia

The deal should also see more collaboration between EXPE and CTRP -- a mutual benefit

By John Divine


Online Travel Shakeup: CTRP Buys eLong From Expedia

Online travel, which has been one of the hottest areas of THE STOCK MARKET in recent years, just got a little hotter.

ExpediaExpedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) announced today that it had sold its majority stake in the Chinese online travel company eLong, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:LONG) to Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CTRP) and a number of other buyers.

The three companies issued statements announcing the move, which saw EXPE divest its entire 62.4% stake in eLong in exchange for $671 million, giving the company a valuation just under $1.1 billion. Of that 62.4%, CTRP bought 37.6% of eLong for roughly $400 million.

SHARES of CTRP, EXPE and LONG stock are all up sharply today on the news — and for good reason. The sale should truly be a rare win-win-win for shareholders in each company as the online travel industry gets even more intertwined.

A Strategic Deal

Expedia has been wheeling and dealing in 2015: In late January, EXPE acquired the online travel and booking site Travelocity from Sabre Corp. (NASDAQ:SABR) for $280 million in cash. Not three weeks later, EXPE turned around and dropped $1.6 billion in cash for Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. NYSE:OWW), consolidating the online travel space even further.

Now it seems EXPE wants to raise some cash on its own, and put that to work focusing on the MARKETS it knows best. Investors applauded the move sending EXPE stock up 5%. And what’s not to like? As I said, this deal is a win-win-win.

That’s because the deal allows each company — LONG, CTRP and EXPE — to stick to their specialties. Ctrip made it very clear that the deal was “strategic,” meaning that it planned to integrate eLong into its current business instead of re-sell it a year or two down the road for a profit.

LONG and CTRP are clearly a nice fit for each other. The China-based LONG has a stated network of about 510,000 properties across the globe on its booking website, which will only increase Ctrip’s leading market SHARE in the country. Ctrip claims to be the biggest online aggregator of accommodations and travel tickets in China.

But that’s not all. CTRP and EXPE also AGREED to collaborate with one another going forward. From Ctrip’s news release:

“Ctrip and Expedia have agreed to cooperate with each other to allow their respective customers to benefit from certain travel product offerings for specified geographic MARKETS.”

While that’s extraordinarily vague, it sounds like Expedia and Ctrip will essentially be referring their customers to one another and arranging some sort of revenue SHARE. That would be similar to the arrangement Ctrip made with Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) last August, when PCLN took a $500 million stake in CTRP and the companies agreed to increase the cross-promotion of each other’s websites.

CTRP stock rocketed as much as 14% higher today on the announcement … a rally that’s easily justified by the LONG stock acquisition and NEW alliance.


Source: InvestorPlace

[winston]

not vested

Tech Stocks Growing Faster Than AAPL: Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (CTRP)

Year Annualized Revenue Growth Rate: 28.1%
2015 Expected Revenue Growth: 43.4%
2016 Expected Revenue Growth: 36.8%

Ctrip.com (CTRP) is the most recognized name in China’s online travel market.

While competition in this space is fierce, Ctrip.com has 12-month revenue of just $1.4 billion — far less than top U.S. online travel companies, which suggests that Ctrip has a ton of revenue growth upside long-term because of the market opportunity in China.

Further, that’s why Ctrip.com’s growthy outlook is no surprise.

While CTRP stock is a bit off its 52-week high, 2015 has been a phenomenal year, with Ctrip shares up roughly 60% vs. just 3% gains for the up-and-down Shanghai Composite.

Part of that is because of the explosive growth opportunity that lies ahead.

Source: Investor Place

[winston]

not vested

Ctrip.com: Chinese Plan To Travel Less, Competition Not Over; UBS Downgrades

By Shuli Ren

Source: Barron's Asia

http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks/201 ... owngrades/

[winston]

“Best of the Best” Stocks to Buy: Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR)

One of the major long-term consumer trends that has been overlooked by many investors recently is the enormous growth in travel in Asia, especially in China.

This is one of those less-noticed aspects of a growing middle class. They don’t all rush out and buy homes and cars — they buy name-brand clothing and accessories or they add to their wardrobe.

Or, in this case, they start to travel more.

Ctrip.com (CTRP) is the major travel source provider for China and has a very strong position in the market. So much so that U.S. travel firm Priceline (PCLN) and an unnamed investment firm are each putting $500 million into CTRP.

You may have missed the move this year — it will finish 2015 up a whopping 314% — but there’s still plenty of growth left here.

Source: Investor Place

[winston]

not vested

China's largest online travel agency poised for 30 percent pop: Barron's

Shares of Chinese online travel agency Ctrip.com International could gain as much as 30 percent this year, as tail winds from the country's burgeoning travel industry spur rapid earnings growth, Barron's said.

The stock, which trades on Nasdaq, plummeted 20 percent in recent months due to China's economic turbulence and a recent merger with money-losing peer Qunar.

But Ctrip's dominant position in the country's travel industry is likely to produce "rapid gains in revenues and profit margins for years to come," the publication said.

Even as growth in China's broader economy drops to the slowest pace since the 2009 recession, its travel industry is booming, growing 19 percent last year, Barron's said.

"China's online travel market could top America's by the end of the decade," the magazine said.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

Ctrip: Q4 Small Beat, Q1 Revenue Guidance Big Miss

By Shuli Ren

Source: Barron's Asia

http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks/201 ... -big-miss/