Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) - Steady As Always
Since Ctrip.com (CTRP) came public mid decade I've always had good fortune with this name; there are certain companies in each niche or sector that always seem to fare much better than competition and Ctrip.com seems to be the cream of the crop in Chinese travel. Steady as she goes is the best description ... you can compare it to eLong (LONG) which is like CTRP's wayward little brother that can never learn to walk straight.
Ctrip.com was blown up on "not good enough" guidance back in November (
Nov 18, 2008: Not a Good Week for Chinese "Dot Coms") but at that point anything that walked was getting whacked. This stock always seems to react violently, up or down, post earnings. I
closed out our position in early September in the mid $40s - as with everything else it was trashed in the fall and late winter, but after a solid earnings report it made it back to $42 Tuesday before dropping back to the mid $30s. The one issue I've always had with the stock is a premium valuation and already we are back at 35x forward earnings for 2009.
Quick summary
via AP
- U.S.-traded shares of Ctrip.com International Ltd. soared Tuesday after the China-based travel services provider posted solid results for the first quarter. The company late Monday announced quarterly net income of $18 million, or 26 cents per American Depositary share, up 23 percent from a year earlier. Excluding stock options costs, the company earned $22 million, or 32 cents per ADS.
- Revenue rose 18 percent to $59 million.
- Hotel reservation revenue rose 9 percent during the quarter to $27 million, while airline ticketing revenue grew 16 percent to $27 million.
- Ctrip expects second-quarter revenue to grow about 10 percent to 15 percent from a year earlier.
A few of my own observations -
Full report here
- Gross margins held in pretty well at 78% this year versus 80% last, but operating margins jumped 2 % to 34% year over year...
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