TripAdvisor price target raised to $33 from $28 at Bernstein

Bernstein raised the firm’s price target on TripAdvisor to $33 from $28 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. With Q4 reports for the online travel agencies for all names in line or ahead of consensus, the “recurring speed bump across all names” was Q1 guidance – largely a result of difficult compares and calendar effects, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says the companies are “entering an undoubted paradigm of more normalized growth,” with overall leisure expected to grow mid-single-growth from here. Bernstein believes Tripadvisor will be driven by a potential transaction in the near term. “We keenly await deal terms, but remain largely in a holding pattern until more information is released,” it writes.