Despite these issues, Ctrip has been doing great recently. This week the company posted $0.36 EPS for the second quarter, beating the Street estimates by a wide $0.07 surprise margin. Revenue of $203 million beat the consensus by $12.59 million. Are we going to see more surprises? And, more importantly, How did Ctrip manage to keep its competitive advantages in motion, recover market share and increase margins in an increasingly fierce arena?
Ctrip’s recovery explained
It was mid-2012 and Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CTRP) was trading at $13 per share. The company had just hit its 52-week low despite an announced $300 million stock buyback. Investors were more afraid of the low barriers to entry that the online traveling business has and the contraction of Ctrip’s market share (around 40% by then) and monopolistic price power.
Source: China Internet Watch, Enfodesk
Macroeconomics wasn’t helping either. Words like “Chinese economic growth slowdown” were popular those days. As a result, about 10 million shares, or 7% of the float, were shorted, representing the strong skepticism over the firm.
But the market was wrong. In the most populated country in the world, still less than 10% of clients book their holidays online. No matter from what perspective you see this, the proportion is expected to increase, as mobile penetration, internet speed and average income rises. Chinese bears were also wrong. A global growth rebound caused by policy actions both in the monetary and fiscal field is boosting demand for Chinese exports, and the recovery of the local market for properties is helping local governments, moving a probable bailout out of the near-term agenda. In terms of equity, it seems that the structural reforms have been taken as a catalyst for a revaluation of Chinese equity by investors. New market valuations shall reflect better the improved market sentiment and expectations on new leadership.
In this way, what is happening is not a general slowdown but a transition from an export driven company to a more balanced one, were consumption plays a more important key in GDP generation.
The increase in consumption per household is a key positive catalyst for Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CTRP). As the largest consolidator of airline tickets and hotel rooms in China, they couldn’t be happier to know private consumption is set to raise. Add to this the fact Ctrip has been in this business since 1999; the brand is so strong that many travelers have its number or website address registered. This has helped Ctrip to triple net sales over the past five years to CNY 4.2 billion. Most revenue comes from online bookings, but corporate travel management and tours are starting to show promising growth rates also. Corporate travel revenue for the second quarter were RMB66 million (US$11 million), representing a 34% increase year-on-year, primarily driven by the increased corporate travel demand from business activities.
