Expedia initiated with a Neutral at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Expedia with a Neutral rating and $130 price target. Trends in the company’s core brands remain mixed, with the Expedia brand continuing to outperform, issues at Hotels.com persisting and VRBO seeming to be on the mend with growth rates stabilizing, the analyst tells investors. While the firm believes underperformance year-to-date reflects the challenges at brand level in the first half, it does not see a path for positive revisions or multiple expansion in the near-term.