Ctrip.com International, a leading Chinese travel site, reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results late Thursday and predicted its best revenue growth in years, sending its stock higher in after-hours trading.
Ctrip reported an adjusted loss of 26 cents a share — or an 11-cent loss excluding stock compensation. Either way, it topped Wall Street forecasts of a 28-cent loss. Revenue rose 30% to $308.4 million. In local currency, revenue rose 33%, higher than Ctrip's forecast of 30%.
"Our main business lines demonstrated strong momentum," said Chairman and CEO James Liang. "Accommodation reservation and transportation ticketing services reached 53% and 102% year-over-year volume growth respectively."
But what got investors' attention was Ctrip's Q1 forecast for a revenue gain of 40%-50%, which suggests the best sales gain since the end of 2010.
Ctrip shares rose more than 8% in late trading to 50, after briefly spiking above 54. During the regular session, Ctrip fell 0.2 to 46.15 on the stock market today.
Ctrip has been finding resistance just below its 50-day moving average. Its stock hit a peak of 69.74 on Sept. 4.
Ctrip's bullish outlook is the latest good news for the Chinese online travel market, despite slower economic growth in China.
Qunar (NASDAQ:QUNR) late Monday said that its revenue doubled over a year earlier to $83.8 million, while its per-share loss was less than expected. Qunar stock spiked 10% on Tuesday and 6% on Wednesday, breaking out of a consolidation to a 52-week high. The stock fell a fraction on Thursday.
Qunar is majority owed by Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), China's dominant search engine. But Qunar's reliance on Baidu is fading as its mobile organic growth improves.
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