Expedia ($EXPE) dominates the vacation planning market, and if alternative data trends are to be believed, it may just continuing its smooth sailing as it coasts into its Q2 Earnings call on July 25.
Heading into earnings the travel website conglomerate is posting healthy hiring numbers and is widely favorable among app users, which are both positive signs for a company expected to post an EPS of $1.69, according to analysts tracked Zacks Investment Research.
From December 10, 2018 to July 20th, 2019, the number of job openings at Expedia shot up 62.02%. While there wasn't a particular office that saw an major change — the posting increases appeared to be across the board — the number of job openings in the company's Bellevue, Washington headquarters more than doubled since the beginning of the year.
Not only is Expedia experiencing major growth internally, but externally, users of its carousel of mobile applications for vacation planning are more than satisfied with the experience.
When it comes to all of Expedia's trip planning platforms — it owns CheapTickets, Hotwire, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, and trivago — there isn't a single major one that has an App Store rating lower than 4.5 stars. A low app rating indicates a platform that is not optimized for mobile or unhappy customers, so an average rating above 4.5 stars is extremely good for the group that helps millions of people bundle hotels, flights, cars, and the like to get them going on a vacation.
What won't be taking a vacation, if the earnings estimates and alternative data trends are to be believed, is Expedia's stock. It's up 22% year-to-date, and an earnings beat might just help Expedia investors fly further into the black.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
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