Analysts Downgrade Expedia Stock; Bears Jump In

While travel platform Expedia Group Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) beat revenue expectations for the first quarter, profits fell short of estimates. The company also cut its 2024 revenue forecast, noting weakness in vacation rental brand Vrbo and poor business-to-consumer performance.

Piper Sandler downgraded EXPE to "neutral" from "overweight" in response, while BMO adjusted its rating to "market perform" from "outperform." The stock drew no fewer price-target cuts as well, including one from Wedbush to $125 from $130.

Coming into today, 11 of 28 firms called the Expedia stock a "buy" or better, while the 12-month consensus target price of $153.35 is now a 24.8% premium to current levels. This indicates there is room for additional bear notes. Meanwhile, short interest rose 33.8% in the most recent reporting period, and now makes up 5.2% of the equity's available float.

The security was last seen down 12.3% to trade at $119.42 -- its lowest level since mid-November. Shares also lost support from the 200-day moving average and $125 region, which contained a February pullback from 52-week highs. So far this year, EXPE shed 10.3%.

Options traders are growing bearish. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.34 ranks higher than 84% of readings from the past 12 months.

Drilling down to today's options activity, 6,162 puts and 3,640 calls crossed the tape in just the first half hour of trading, which is 11 times the intraday average volume. Most popular is the weekly 5/10 117-strike put, where traders are currently opening new positions.