Expedia app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken February 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
(Reuters) -Shares of Expedia Group plunged 19% in early trading on Friday after the online travel firm said it expects 2024 revenue growth rates to moderate, as air fares soften from post-pandemic highs.
The company late on Thursday also said Chief Executive Officer Peter Kern will step down from his position and will be replaced by company insider Ariane Gorin.
Expedia's shares were set to snap a four-day winning streak and were on course for their biggest single-day drop in nearly four years, if the losses held.
Booking Holdings, Tripadvisor, and Airbnb were down between 1% and 4% in early trading on amplified concerns about moderating booking and uneven domestic travel demand following a rebound from pandemic lows.
On Thursday, Expedia warned that air travel revenue was under pressure due to a fall in average ticket prices.
"On a macro level, we expect travel demand to remain relatively healthy, but we expect growth rates across the world to decelerate," outgoing CEO Kern said on the company's earnings call.
Air travel revenue was also affected by the grounding of Boeing's 737 Max 9 fleet, leading to multiple cancellations impacting its Vrbo brand.
"Overall, we see an 'acceleration story' that is decelerating with a CEO transition now in play; near-term setup looks challenging," Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a note.
The company forecast its gross bookings growth for the current quarter to be in the low- to mid-single digits range and said it expects revenue growth to be in the mid-single digit.
"Expedia's first-quarter guidance may have underwhelmed investors, with revenue growth expected to be in the mid-single digits range compared to the 9% consensus estimate," CFRA analyst Siye Desta said.
However, the company reported a better-than-expected adjusted profit of $1.72 per share on the back of resilient demand during the holiday season. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.68 per share, according to LSEG data.
Shares of Expedia trade about 12.35 times their forward profit estimates, well below rival Booking's 21.04 multiple.
(Reporting by Pratyush Thakur in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
