Piper Jaffray Discusses European Hotel Status, Priceline

Piper Jaffray is out with a research report on the state of European hotels. It says Priceline.com PCLN is its top pick. It rates shares at Overweight with a $628 price target on shares. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "Revenue per available room (RevPAR) among European hotels accelerated to +10.5% y/y in 2Q through May vs. +9.1% y/y in 1Q as growth in room demand contrasts with a pause in room inventory growth. Meanwhile, passenger traffic growth for six European airlines accelerated to +14% y/y in 2Q through May. Europe OTA web traffic across 8 travel sites is showing a Q/Q deceleration at +0.4% in 2Q through May. Booking.com (Priceline) unique visitors growth leads our travel site index up +16% in 2Q through May vs. +23% in 1Q, while traffic to Expedia Inc. sites grew +1% in 2Q through May vs. +5% in Q1. PCLN remains our top pick in online travel due to exposure to faster growing international markets." Shares of PCLN lost $7.03 on Friday to close at $482.97, a loss of 1.4%.