Expedia Inc. Stock Hold Recommendation Reiterated (EXPE)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Expedia (Nasdaq:EXPE) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a hold with a ratings score of C. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, reasonable valuation levels and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 21.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 12.2%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Compared to other companies in the Internet & Catalog Retail industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, EXPEDIA INC has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has exceeded that of the S&P 500.
• EXPE has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 14.27% from its price level of one year ago. The fact that the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings is not reason enough to justify a buy rating at this time.
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Internet & Catalog Retail industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 106.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $52.04 million to -$3.28 million.

Expedia, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. The company has a P/E ratio of 17.1, above the average leisure industry P/E ratio of 16.1and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Expedia has a market cap of $5.54 billion and is part of the services sector and leisure industry. Shares are up 14.8% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

You can view the full Expedia Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

For more information on Expedia Inc. click any of the following:

• Expedia Inc. Stock Price

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• Expedia Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Expedia Inc. Earnings

• Expedia Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Expedia Inc. Growth Rates

• Expedia Inc. Balance Sheet

• Expedia Inc. Cash Flow

• Expedia Inc. Income Statement