Ascendiant's Woo Says TripAdvisor Worth $100 On Strong Industry, Sees Marriott As 'Big Plus'

In a report published Monday, Ascendiant Capital Markets analyst Edward Woo maintained a Buy rating on TripAdvisor Inc TRIP, while raising the price target from $92 to $100, saying that "growth, scale, and strong travel industry should drive valuation" in the longer term. TripAdvisor is scheduled to report its 2Q15 results on July 23. Expect inline: Analyst Edward Woo expects the company to report its results "about inline" with the consensus estimates, with revenue of $413 - $414 million and EPS of $0.55 - $0.57. Online traffic metrics for TripAdvisor decelerated in Q2, according to Compete. Woo said, however, that the addition of Marriott International Inc MAR to the TripAdvisor Instant Booking platform in June "was a big plus." In the report Ascendiant Capital Markets noted, "TripAdvisor gets ~50% of its revenue international (mainly Europe), and we believe the weaker F/X will temper its results and outlook. We also believe its continued investment spending will be a drag on EPS in Q2 and the rest of 2015 (including offline advertising of $60 million (2x 2014 levels), with an incremental $10 million in Q2 and Q3 over prior year)." Woo commented that the travel industry was likely to remain robust in the near term. "In Q2, we estimate that global hotel demand continue to improve with ADR and RevPAR up low single digits," the analyst added.