Expedia narrows 1Q loss as hotel, air sales rise

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) -- Expedia Inc. narrowed its first-quarter loss from a year ago on higher revenue from airfares and hotel rooms, and the online travel company's results beat Wall Street expectations.

Airfare revenue rose 28 percent as Expedia sold 30 percent more tickets.

Revenue from renting hotel rooms rose 12 percent, but the company took in 10 percent less per daily room, which Expedia said was due to expanding its hotel offerings, promotions, coupons and a shift toward hotels in Asia-Pacific.

Expedia said Thursday that it lost $14.3 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with a loss of $104.2 million, or 77 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Excluding items such as depreciation and stock-based compensation costs, the company said it would have earned 16 cents per share. While less than the year-ago adjusted profit of 25 cents per share, it beat the forecast of 14 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $1.20 billion, slightly above analysts' forecast of $1.18 billion.

Expenses rose 20 percent, led by increases in selling and marketing costs.

Expedia runs its own brand website and others such as Hotels.com and Hotwire.

Shares of the Bellevue-based company were down $2.32, or 3.1 percent, to $71.55 during extended trading. They gained $2.88, or 4.1 percent, to end regular trading at $73.87 before the results were released.