Why Expedia Shares Are Worth the Wild Ride

Let’s talk about Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE).

It’s a name that we all know -- and you also know some of its subsidiaries: Hotels.com, and what about Trivago? I think that dude is kind of weird, but that’s just me.

The breadth of this business -- it covers a lot. On the supply side: 510,000 hotels around the world, 200 countries, 400+ airlines, 5.5 million packages. I would like to see a more aggressive approach with China. I got a little beef there, although they have a partnership with c-trip. That’s the biggest player in that nation, so that kind of helps them out and that stock has been acting great.

The ad and media revenue has gone parabolic. From 2009 to 2011, compounded annual growth was just 6.8%; from 2011 to last year it was 61.8%. If you feel like you’re chasing this stock, you have to consider an insider just bought 264,000 shares.

I normally don’t like stocks that aren’t executing. These guys missed a consensus the last two quarters. In fact, not too long ago, I got whipsawed. It went down, I got out. I cried the same day, and it went right back up. I’m back in there right now, and I’m willing to go through the volatility because I see huge upside.

It’s a $1.3 trillion business. Technically, I love the chart and I think the next leg up lifts it to $115. My target for now is $125. I might raise the target.

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