As we head into 2018 with stocks at all-time highs, investors are becoming increasingly more careful with names that have raced to record valuations in 2017. Personally, I'm looking for growth names that are still displaying strong fundamental growth drivers, but have lagged behind the broader markets in 2017 - in the hopes for a reversal in 2018.
One such name is Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN), the online travel agent (OTA) company that's best known for its eponymous website, Priceline.com. As most know, Priceline is an aggregator of hotel, airline, and rental car deals and takes a percentage fee for trips booked on its platform. Priceline has become such a major channel for hotel room bookings, in particular, that major hotel chains have taken steps over the past several years to combat the skyrocketing commissions they pay to Priceline. Yet despite hotel chains' major marketing push to customers to book directly on hotel websites, OTAs (primarily Priceline and Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE)) continue to carry the lion's share of online bookings. Hotel nights booked on Priceline's platform increased 19% y/y to 177.5 million nights in its most recent quarter (Q3), an all-time high.
