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Expedia soars as travel demand fuels big Q3 beat and price target hikes across Wall Street

Shares of Expedia leapt in early trading Friday after the travel platform posted a strong third quarter.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $7.57, surpassing the consensus estimate of roughly $6.98. Meanwhile, revenue climbed to $4.41 billion, also topping forecasts and driven by strong room-night growth in the US and Asia. 

“Our strong third quarter results exceeded both our top- and bottom-line expectations, reflecting an improved demand environment, disciplined execution and tangible progress on our strategic priorities,” CEO Ariane Gorin said in a statement. “Notably, US room-night growth hit its fastest pace in over three years, we posted our 17th consecutive quarter of double-digit B2B growth — and consumer bookings grew 7%.” 

For the full year, Expedia now expects revenue growth of 6% to 7%, up from its previous estimate of 3% to 5%. Wall Street welcomed the results:

  • Evercore ISI maintained its “outperform” rating and lifted its target to $350 from $280.

  • Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to “neutral” and hiked its target to $250 from $190.

  • Wells Fargo maintained its “equal weight” rating and raised its price target to $272 from $212.

  • UBS kept its “neutral” rating and raised its target to $234 from $209.

  • Truist reiterated its “hold” rating and increased its target to $210 from $168.

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Retail traders are “skipping the dip” this time

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its worst week since reciprocal tariffs were announced in early April: retail traders seemingly aren’t eager to buy the weakness in single stocks the way they used to be.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain has flagged that retail traders instead appear to be “skipping the dip.”

“In contrast to the behavior observed during the post-Liberation Day selloff, retail investors did not seize the opportunity to buy-the-dip on Tuesday, with a few exceptions such as META,” he wrote of the day where the benchmark US stock index fell 1.2%. “In fact, they scaled back their ETF purchases and turned net sellers in single stocks.”

Then on Thursday, when the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, Jain projected that retail traders sold $261 million in single stocks. Through noon ET on Friday, his daily outflow estimate stands at $851 million.

With that intel, it’s little wonder why the carnage this week has been particularly intense in more speculative single stocks that had been favored by the retail community, including IREN, IonQ, Rigetti, Cipher Mining, Bloom Energy, and Oklo.

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Archer Aviation plunges on $650 million share sale following its third-quarter results

Air taxi maker Archer Aviation is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after the bell Thursday. The stock is down more than 12%.

Investors don’t appear to be thrilled about the company’s $650 million direct stock offering, announced alongside its results.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

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