OpenTable Shares Soar on Sales Growth
NEW YORK (
) --
OpenTable's
(OPEN)
solid third quarter performance sent shares surging 16% in premarket trading Wednesday.
The online restaurant reservation service posted better-than-expected results Tuesday, giving one analyst reason to raise estimates and a few investors reason to buy the stock.
Greater mobile application and Internet use helped
OpenTable boost reservation growth
54% over year-ago levels and at a faster pace than the 52% growth in the second quarter.
Adjusted earnings were 23 cents a share, well above the 8 cent year-ago levels and considerably higher than the 15 cents analysts were looking for.
Sales for the third quarter jumped to $24.5 million, a 44% gain over the same period last year, and better than the $23.1 million analysts expected.
In light of the strong report, ThinkEquity analyst Aaron Kessler raised his full year targets for OpenTable. Kessler now calls for total 2010 earnings-per-share to be 77 cents, up from 66 cents. And he bumped up his sales prediction to $98.6 million from $96.9 million.
OpenTable shares soared more than 16% to $71.50 in premarket trading Wednesday.
--Written by Scott Moritz in New York.>To contact this writer, click here: Scott Moritz, or email: scott.moritz@thestreet.com.To follow Scott on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/MoritzDispatch.>To send a tip, email: tips@thestreet.com.
