Why Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) Stock Jumped Today

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What:Shares of Ctrip.com International Ltd. (ADR) were up 11.7% as of 12:10 p.m. Thursday after the China-focused travel website released better-than-expected unaudited first-quarter results.

So what:Quarterly revenue flew 46% higher over the year-ago period to $373 million, which translated to a GAAP net loss of $20 million, or $0.15 per diluted American depositary share (ADS). On an adjusted basis -- which primarily means excluding share-based compensation charges of $26 million -- Ctrip achieved net income of $5 million, or $0.04 per diluted ADS. Analysts, on average, were anticipating revenue of just $363.3 million to result in a larger adjusted net loss of $0.26 per ADS.

Now what:"We are pleased with the strong results delivered in the first quarter of 2015," added Ctrip CEO James Liang. And they have every reason to be pleased; Ctrip's accommodation reservation volume rose 60% over the past year. And transportation ticketing services volume increased 104%, notably driving a 64% increase in total air tickets sold to set a new company record. Mobile channels also comprised around 70% of total online transactions during the quarter, as cumulative mobile app downloads jumped more than 550% year over year to roughly 800 million.

For the current quarter, Ctrip expects revenue to continue growing at a rate of 45% to 50% year over year. By contrast, Wall Street was expecting second-quarter revenue to increase 42.5 % year over year to $395.7 million.

All things considered -- and even given Ctrip's current hefty share-based compensation -- it's hard to blame the market for so aggressively driving shares of the travel site up given its solid Q1 results and better-than-expected guidance. As long as Ctrip continues this momentum to seize its massive addressable market, I see no reason the stock can't also continue to reward long-term investors from here.

The article Why Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) Stock Jumped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ctrip.com International. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.