Piper Jaffray Highlights PCLN In Hotel Industry

Piper Jaffray is highlighting priceline.com PCLN as its top pick in the hotel industry in a report that also mentions Expedia EXPE as a strong representative in the industry. According the Piper Jaffray, “The outlook & trend for the domestic hotel industry continues to be positive, with Smith Travel research expecting 7% y/y growth in hotel revenues for the 2011 summer travel season (June/July/August), which should benefit the OTAs. Preliminary industry hotel RevPAR in April was up 8% y/y (+3% y/y room rate increase) vs. +10% y/y (+4% y/y room rates) in March. Air traffic grew 3.6% y/y during the month. OTA web traffic decelerated, down 15% y/y for Expedia (-11% in Mar.) and (7%) y/y for Priceline (flat y/y in Mar) in the month of April. We reiterate PCLN as our top 12-month large cap pick given strong international (~80% of company earnings) growth trajectory.” PCLN closed at $520.99 and EXPE at $25.08 yesterday.