Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN) was another top contributor to performance during the quarter. Despite its strong performance, in our view, Priceline’s stock has underperformed its corporate fundamentals. Over the past three years, earnings per share are up a cumulative +60%, while the P/E multiple has contracted about 15%, to around 19X the next 12-month earnings. Further, if we assume that all stocks receive some kind of multiple expansion benefits due to currently low interest rates, 3 then Priceline’s multiple contraction looks all the more stark. Thus, although Priceline has executed torrid value creation relative to the benchmark, the stock has posted a fraction of the outperformance. We continue to think Priceline’s competitive advantage consists of scale on both the supply and demand side of the hospitality industry. With over 90% of the Company’s profitability coming from non-US markets, particularly from Europe, we believe their strategy of foregoing low-margin US bookings in favor of bookings in higher-margin, fragmented markets is a sensible one.
From Wedgewood Partners' third quarter 2016 shareholder commentary.
