The stock of the online travel agency Expedia recorded a strong reaction on the US stock exchanges to the presented financial statements and the announced change in leadership. During the Corona pandemic, Expedia was among the losers, as were many companies in the tourism sector.

Yet the latest fourth-quarter and annual figures for the 2024 fiscal year suggest a significant recovery for the online travel agency. In the last quarter, revenue rose from $2.618 billion to $2.887 billion, while the adjusted earnings per share increased from $1.26 to $1.72 per share.

On an annual basis, Expedia was able to increase its revenue by about 10 percent to 12.839 billion US dollars (compared to 11.667 billion US dollars in the previous year). The adjusted earnings per share even increased by 43 percent from 6.79 US dollars to 9.69 US dollars. 'We met our annual forecast, achieved record results, while simultaneously completing a massive transformation and managing the associated inherent volatility,' CEO Peter Kern said in the press release on the financial statement.

After Announcing the Numbers, Expedia Made Headlines with Another Piece of News: CEO Peter Kern to be Replaced After About Four Years at the Company. Ariane Gorin Will Take Over His Position Starting May 13, 2024. However, Kern Will Not Leave the Company Entirely, as Stated in the Official Communication.

The provided text is not a heading but rather part of a paragraph. Nevertheless, the translation to English is:

"He will continue to serve as Vice Chairman and Board Member, and will work closely with Gorin to ensure a smooth transition. Gorin is no stranger at Expedia: she has been with the company since 2013 and played a significant role in the growth of Expedia's B2B segment 'Expedia for Business,' whose revenue increased by 33 percent from 2022 to 2023."

"We have decided on an internal candidate for the CEO position and after a comprehensive search determined that Ariane is the best choice due to her exemplary leadership," explained Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior Executive of Expedia Group.

The surprising announcement of the change in leadership had a negative impact on Expedia's share price increase on Friday. Investors were unsettled, and furthermore, the quarterly figures were partly worse than expected. The stock price dropped by double digits percentage-wise and reached a daily low of 126.05 US dollars.

In this area is the so-called 50 percent retracement of the price increase from early November to the previous day, on which the highest level since May 2022 was reached. This means that half of the price increase has been nullified.

For technically interested investors, this value is significant. Despite the immediate drop in price, shares still cost 17.78 percent less at the close of trading on Friday than on the previous day ($131.11). Analyst Justin Post from Bank of America reduced his sales and earnings forecasts for the current and coming year due to the developments.

As a result, the price target was lowered from $181 to $156, and Post downgrades Expedia shares from "Buy" to "Neutral". He criticized that bookings in the last quarter fell short of expectations. Nevertheless, the company's forecasts for 2024 are mostly in line with expectations.

Nevertheless, the analyst sees more uncertainties for this year, as a strong growth in bookings is needed due to the slow start of the year in order to meet the company forecast. Management has a lot to do in the first half of the year.

Shares of Some Expedia Competitors Also Pressured by the News. Shares of Airbnb, Booking Holdings, and TripAdvisor Dropped by 1.96 Percent, 2.14 Percent, and 3.73 Percent, Respectively.