Skip to main content
Homepage
Full 18-step deep-dive · ~20–30 min · a member feature.
FRESH Analysis Report
Aug 22, 2026
1 day ago · 100% complete
For AI assistants & researchers — machine-readable summary of this page

What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Expedia Group, Inc. (EXPE) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.

Our current read (analysis of 2026-08-23): Designation Watch · Gem Score -10 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality 40 · Value -51 · Sentiment 23 (timing only, not weighted) · Composite fair value $296.05 vs $321.63 at analysis

Page map (sections in order; each card carries a stable reference-name attribute you can cite):

  • profile-header / price-overview — company profile, live quote, market cap
  • extended-analysisthe core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memo
  • future-predictions — our forward price-band predictions
  • market-narrative / ai-findings / gpt-critique — narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)
  • Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers): price-history, income-trend, key-metrics, financials (statement tables), insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.

More for machine readers: site briefing at /llms.txt · any ticker resolves at delvantic.com/stock/TICKER · raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds); every model, score, lens read, and prediction on this page is Delvantic's own analysis.

Expedia Group, Inc.

EXPE NASDAQ
Consumer Cyclical · Travel Services
Seattle, WA 98119, United States expediagroup.com Updated Aug 22, 4:14pm
Price
$321.63
Market Cap
$38.6B
Employees
16,000
Beta
1.25
Avg Volume
1,556,633
Last Dividend
$0.96
CEO
Ms. Ariane Gorin

Expedia Group, Inc. is a global online travel and travel technology company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It operates a diversified portfolio of consumer and business brands that facilitate the discovery, booking, and management of travel worldwide. Through its flagship brands such as Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo, the company enables travelers to book lodging, flights, car rentals, cruises, and a wide range of destination services and activities, serving both leisure and business customers. Expedia Group also runs a significant B2B operation, providing travel technology, inventory, and booking capabilities to airlines, travel agencies, online retailers, corporate travel managers, and financial institutions, integrating its platform into partners’ offerings. In addition, it owns trivago, a hotel metasearch business that generates advertising revenue by referring users to online travel agencies and hotel providers. Today, Expedia Group plays a central role in the digital travel marketplace, connecting travelers and suppliers through data-driven, multi-brand platforms across many countries and segments.

Runs with full report Generated: Aug 22, 2026 4:21pm
Price Overview
Price at report time
$321.63
as of Aug 22, 4:14pm (1d ago)
Change · Aug 22
-2.54 (-0.78%)
Day Range
$320.67 – $328.99
52-Week Range
$185.34 – $335.00
50-Day MA
$279.07
200-Day MA
$255.18
Volume
1,361,700.00
Right now · live
Log in to get the live feed
Members see the real-time price and the move since this report (over 1d).
Share Structure
Outstanding 119,996,452.00
Float 113,547,900.00
Free Float 94.6%
High free float — 94.6% of shares trade freely, ~5.4% held by insiders/institutions
Very liquid — most shares trade freely. Low insider ownership can mean less management alignment, but makes large position sizing straightforward.
Price History (1 Year)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:32pm (1d ago)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
The directional story — useful even when net income is negative.
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:32pm (1d ago)
Revenue
The top line — total sales before any costs or taxes are subtracted. A measure of how much business the company is doing.
Net Income
The bottom line — profit left after subtracting all expenses, interest, and taxes from revenue. Reflects accounting profitability, but includes non-cash items like depreciation, so it isn't the same as cash earned.
Operating Cash Flow
The real cash generated by the day-to-day business — selling products, paying suppliers, collecting from customers. Calculated from net income by adding back non-cash items and adjusting for timing (unpaid bills, unsold inventory). When OCF consistently lags net income, the reported profit may not be converting to real money.
Period Revenue Net Income Net Margin YoY/QoQ
Key Metrics
TD Twelve Data statement HEX SEC filing
Industry comparison last run: Aug 22, 2026 4:19pm
P/E Ratio (Price per dollar of earnings)
HEX
Stock Price / EPS (Diluted)
32.79
Stock Price: $321.63
EPS (Diluted): 9.81
P/B Ratio (Price vs net asset value)
HEX
Stock Price / Book Value Per Share
16.66
Stock Price: $321.63
Total Equity: $2.55B
Shares: 131,943,000
EV/EBITDA (Total value vs operating profit)
HEX
Enterprise Value / EBITDA
14.89
Market Cap: $38.60B
Total Debt: $6.16B
Cash: $5.41B
EBITDA: $2.76B
Enterprise Value (Takeover price (cap + debt - cash))
HEX
Market Cap + Total Debt - Cash
$41.1B
Market Cap: $38.60B
Total Debt: $6.16B
Cash: $5.41B
Gross Margin (Revenue left after direct costs)
HEX
Gross Profit / Revenue
90.1%
Gross Profit: $13.28B
Revenue: $14.73B
Operating Margin (Revenue left after all operations)
HEX
Operating Income / Revenue
12.7%
Operating Income: $1.87B
Revenue: $14.73B
Net Margin (Revenue left as actual profit)
HEX
Net Income / Revenue
8.8%
Net Income: $1.29B
Revenue: $14.73B
ROE (Profit from shareholder equity)
HEX
Net Income / Total Equity
50.8%
Net Income: $1.29B
Total Equity: $2.55B
ROIC (Profit from all invested capital)
HEX
NOPAT / Invested Capital
46.4%
Operating Income: $1.87B
Tax Rate: 18.2%
Equity: $2.55B
Total Debt: $6.16B
Cash: $5.41B
Current Ratio (Can it pay short-term bills)
HEX
Current Assets / Current Liabilities
0.73
Current Assets: $12.20B
Current Liabilities: $16.66B
Debt/Equity (Leverage — debt vs equity)
HEX
Total Debt / Total Equity
2.42
Short-Term Debt: $1.69B
Long-Term Debt: $4.47B
Total Debt: $6.16B
Total Equity: $2.55B
Rev/Share (Top-line per share)
HEX
Revenue / Shares Outstanding
$111.66
Revenue: $14.73B
Shares: 131,943,000
Book Value/Share (Net assets per share)
HEX
(Total Assets - Total Liabilities) / Shares
$19.30
Total Equity: $2.55B
Shares: 131,943,000
FCF/Share (Real cash generated per share)
HEX
(Operating Cash Flow + CapEx) / Shares
$23.57
Operating CF: $3.88B
CapEx: -$770.00M
Shares: 131,943,000
CapEx is negative (outflow) — added to OCF to get FCF
Div Yield (Annual income from holding)
TD
Last Annual Dividend / Stock Price
0.3%
Last Dividend: $0.96
Stock Price: $321.63
Payout Ratio (Earnings paid out as dividends)
HEX
Dividends Paid / Net Income
Dividends Paid: N/A
Net Income: $1.29B
Dividends paid not available in cash flow statement
Industry Benchmarks
Last run: Aug 22, 2026 4:19pm
Compares EXPE against LLM-researched typical ranges for its industry. One research call per industry, cached indefinitely — every stock in the same industry reuses the same baseline.
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:32pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Revenue $8.6B $11.7B $12.8B $13.7B $14.7B
Cost of Revenue $1.5B $1.7B $1.6B $1.4B $1.5B
Gross Profit $7.1B $10.0B $11.3B $12.2B $13.3B
Operating Expenses $6.9B $8.9B $10.2B $10.9B $11.4B
Operating Income $186.0M $1.1B $1.0B $1.3B $1.9B
Net Income $12.0M $352.0M $797.0M $1.2B $1.3B
EBITDA $1.0B $1.9B $1.8B $2.2B $2.8B
EPS $-1.80 $2.24 $5.50 $9.39 $10.32
EPS (Diluted) $-1.80 $2.17 $5.31 $8.95 $9.81
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:14pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Cash & Equivalents $4.1B $4.1B $4.2B $4.2B $5.4B
Total Current Assets $8.2B $8.8B $9.2B $9.8B $12.2B
Total Assets $21.5B $21.6B $21.6B $22.4B $24.5B
Current Liabilities $9.5B $10.8B $11.8B $13.6B $16.7B
Long-Term Debt $7.7B $6.2B $6.3B $5.2B $4.5B
Total Liabilities $18.0B $17.8B $18.9B $19.6B $21.9B
Total Equity $3.6B $3.7B $2.8B $2.8B $2.5B
Retained Earnings -$1.8B -$1.4B -$632.0M $602.0M $1.7B
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:32pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Operating Cash Flow $3.7B $3.4B $2.7B $3.1B $3.9B
Capital Expenditure -$673.0M -$662.0M -$846.0M -$756.0M -$770.0M
Free Cash Flow $3.1B $2.8B $1.8B $2.3B $3.1B
Acquisitions (net)
Net Debt Issued / (Repaid) $258.0M -$2.1B $0 $0 -$59.0M
Dividends Paid
Stock Buybacks -$165.0M -$607.0M -$2.1B -$1.8B -$1.9B
Net Change in Cash $1.7B $46.0M -$190.0M -$87.0M $1.4B
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:32pm (1d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2024 2025
Revenue Growth +35.7% +10.0% +6.6% +7.6%
Gross Profit Growth +41.5% +12.5% +8.7% +8.4%
Operating Income Growth +483.3% -4.8% +27.7% +41.8%
Net Income Growth +2,833.3% +126.4% +54.8% +4.9%
EBITDA Growth +87.7% -2.0% +17.2% +27.9%
Dividend History (Last 20)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:14pm (1d ago)
Date Dividend Declaration Record Payment
2026-08-27 $0.48
2026-05-28 $0.48
2026-03-05 $0.48
2025-11-19 $0.40
2025-08-28 $0.40
2025-05-29 $0.40
2025-03-06 $0.40
2020-03-09 $0.34
2019-11-18 $0.34
2019-08-21 $0.34
2019-05-22 $0.32
2019-03-06 $0.32
2018-11-14 $0.32
2018-08-22 $0.32
2018-05-23 $0.30
2018-03-07 $0.30
2017-11-15 $0.30
2017-08-22 $0.30
2017-05-23 $0.28
2017-03-07 $0.28
0Company Classification 1Industry Landscape 2Company Momentum 3Forward Projection 4aDCF Valuation 4bEarnings Power Value 4cAnchored PE 4dReverse DCF 4eRevenue-Based DCF 4fAnchored P/S 4gScenario Analysis 4hDividend Discount Model 4iBook Value Analysis 4jInsider Activity 4fCash Flow Quality 4gDebt Maturity Risk 4hMacro Environment 4iSector Intelligence 4jRevenue Confidence 4kSensitivity Analysis 4lSector Demand Cycle 5AI Investigation 5bThesis Evaluation 6Valuation Synthesis
computed not applicable 18 computed · 6 not applicable
Risk : Reward — if the last quarter repeats
Live · as of 2026-08-22 16:41
-0.4 : 1 recovery upside vs repeat-quarter downside
Even the bull case prices 20% below today — the ratio here measures the model-vs-market gap, not payoff odds. Another quarter like the worst recent one costs 46%.
CaseGrowthMarginFair valuevs price ($321.63)
Bull — recovery +21% 14.9% $257.11 -20%
Base — stabilizes +14% 13.0% $185.73 -42%
Bear — keeps slipping +7% 11.0% $131.34 -59%
Stress — last quarter repeats +9% 14.3% $173.36 -46%
The next quarters keep the trajectory of the worst recent matched quarter (ending 2025-09-30) — growth stays at 8.7% and margins bend by the same profit-vs-revenue ratio (×1.10). Stress is a trajectory, not a prediction — it answers "what if the ship's current heading simply continues," which history says is the case to respect.
Why this is appearing: this company files quarterly, so its recent trajectory could be measured rather than assumed — the engine matched Jun 2026, Mar 2026 against the same quarters one year earlier and found revenue +14.3% · operating income +153.2% · net income +570.8% year-over-year. That measured heading is what the stress case extends forward. Of those, the stress case extends the worst matched quarter — the one ending Sep 30, 2025 (revenue +8.7%, operating income +36.0% YoY) — not the average. Data measured through Jun 30, 2026 — this card recalculates automatically when the next quarterly filing is ingested. Companies without quarterly filings (many foreign listings) never show this card: with no measured trajectory, there is nothing honest to repeat.
Narrative Economics
The story the market is telling about this stock — the intangible X-factor (founder mythology, cult dynamics, TAM-of-imagination) that moves price beyond what cash flows alone explain. After Shiller, Narrative Economics.
No narrative profile yet for EXPE — it's generated by the pipeline (market-narrative step).
Growth Outlook
Analyzed 2026-08-22 16:40

The question every valuation on this page silently assumes: is this company likely to grow? Judged forward — the business, its category, the world — against what's already printed.

Growing Expedia is growing — mid-to-high single-digit revenue with outsized earnings leverage from B2B, advertising and cost discipline — but it is growing slower than a healthy travel category, so the growth is margin-led rather than share-led. conf 7/10
Share loss Category growing · Category is expanding (median recent growth ~10.3%, 11.7% 3-yr industry revenue CAGR, margins +5.5pp) while Expedia's recent revenue YoY is 7.6% — a ~4pp shortfall. The company grows, but slower than its market.
Next 2 quarters
Growing
Category expansion plus continuing cost/marketing discipline and B2B mix should keep revenue up high-single digits with materially faster EPS growth; the beat cadence (4 of last 5) suggests guidance is set to be cleared.
↑ above expectations
Year 1
Growing
Full-year shape is mid-to-high single-digit revenue with double-digit-plus earnings growth as operating leverage compounds; nothing in the trajectory argues for a break, but the decelerating quarterly trend argues against acceleration.
≈ inline with expectations
Years 2–3
Growing
Earnings power should keep expanding on B2B, media and buybacks, but a persistent ~4pp share gap in a growing category means the revenue engine is more likely to settle at mid-single digits than to sustain a mid-teens compounding rate; intermediation risk skews the tail down.
↓ below expectations
The creme: each rung's call measured against what's already printed (vs analyst estimates · vs guidance / FY consensus · vs price-implied growth) — expectations in print are already in the price, so only the variant margin can pay. Hover a rung's chip for the margin read.
Growth drivers
63 B2B + advertising mix shift — The fastest-growing and most margin-accretive parts of the portfolio are the B2B travel-technology/white-label supply business and the media/advertising network. Both scale on inventory and tech already built, which is the mechanism behind operating income growing far faster than revenue (matched-quarter OI +153%, 3-yr earnings CAGR 27% vs revenue CAGR 7%).
57 Operating leverage from platform consolidation — Multi-brand tech stack unification, marketing-efficiency discipline and fixed-cost restraint are converting modest top-line growth into large EPS growth, amplified by buyback-driven share count reduction. Industry-wide margins are also up ~5.5pp over three years, so this is a real, not one-off, structural lift.
45 Category in expansion phase — Travel Services sector is in expansion with category median recent growth ~10.3% and 11.7% industry revenue CAGR; even a share-losing participant gets a positive baseline for bookings and room-night volume.
32 Consistent estimate beats — Four of the last five prints beat EPS estimates, including +10% and +42% magnitudes — evidence guidance is set conservatively and cost actions are landing ahead of modeled pace.
Growth risks
67 Share loss inside a growing category — Recent YoY 7.6% vs industry 11.8% — a -4.2pp gap. This is the structural shape that matters: the company is riding the tide, not gaining. Persistent underperformance against faster-growing OTA and alternative-accommodation peers caps the durability of any mid-teens growth assumption.
47 Decelerating revenue trend — Revenue confidence flags the quarterly trend as decelerating, and recent revenue YoY (7.6%) sits above but converging with the long-run 7.1% CAGR while earnings YoY has cooled to ~4.9% on a trailing basis — the profit-inflection comps get harder from here.
41 Distribution/intermediation risk — Dependence on paid search and increasingly on AI answer layers for demand acquisition, plus supplier direct-booking push (hotel apps, airline direct), pressures the take-rate and marketing efficiency that the margin story rests on. Slow-burn, not next-quarter.
33 Cyclical macro exposure — Discretionary travel with a middleman economic model; macro backdrop flagged as headwinds (10y 4.69). A consumer slowdown hits both volume and mix quickly, and Expedia has no subscription buffer.
26 Alternative accommodation weakness — Vrbo remains the soft link versus a stronger-growing direct competitor, so the highest-growth lodging sub-category is a drag rather than a driver.
Global travel demand is still normalizing upward and the industry is in an expansion phase with widening margins — a supportive backdrop that lifts all OTAs. The change happening around Expedia is where demand is discovered: search-based intent is migrating toward AI assistants and supplier-direct apps, which threatens the acquisition economics of an intermediary whose edge is inventory breadth plus paid distribution. Expedia's hedge is structurally sensible — sell the plumbing (B2B supply/tech) and the attention (advertising) rather than only the transaction — and that hedge is where its earnings growth is actually coming from. The macro layer (higher long rates, discretionary spend pressure) is a volume risk but not the deciding variable; the deciding variable is whether the share gap versus faster-growing peers narrows.
Growth position composite +1
ShrinkingStallingHoldingGrowingAccelerating
70Next 2 quarters · Growing
70Year 1 · Growing
70Years 2–3 · Growing
+1Composite (−100…+100)
A research prediction, not advice. Forward-graded: each rung is scored against the prints that follow it. Not an input to the GEM designation — track record first.
Claude Reading
Independent analyst synthesis · claude-opus-4-7 · generated 2026-08-22 16:31:49
Verdict I partially dissent from the synthesis "fair value" call — it's directionally right that upside is modest but understates the asymmetry. At 12x FCF with 7% top-line and expanding margins, EXPE is mildly undervalued, not fair. Fair value in my read is $340-360 assuming margins creep to 14% and revenue compounds 6-7%; downside to $260 if OTA disintermediation accelerates or 2026-27 travel demand cracks. I strongly dissent from the Market Forces "value trap" framing — the FCF is real, the buybacks are accretive at 12x FCF, and the insider read is spurious. Not a table-pound because the AI-disintermediation tail risk is genuine and BKNG remains the higher-quality comp, but at current price this is a reasonable holding, not a sell.

Starting from the raw numbers: Expedia is doing $14.73B TTM-ish revenue growing ~7.6% YoY, with the last four quarters showing genuine operating leverage — Q3'25 net margin of 21.7% and Q2'26 at 20.3% are real, not noise, though these are seasonally the strongest quarters (bookings-heavy summer). Annual op margin has climbed from 1.6% (2021) to 12.7% (2025), NI from $12M to $1.29B. FCF of $3.11B against a $38.6B market cap is a ~8% FCF yield — that is not expensive for a mature earner. The 32.8x PE is misleading because it's on trailing NI that lags; on FCF the multiple is ~12.4x. ROIC of 46% and ROE of 51% are flattered by the tiny $2.55B equity base (buybacks have eaten it), but the capital efficiency is genuinely high because this is a working-capital-negative float business.

Where I diverge from the prior stack: the Market Forces "value trap / financial engineering" call is overwrought. Buybacks compressing equity is not financial engineering when $3.1B of FCF is real cash and capex is only $770M. The Thesis Evaluation's claim that $322 embeds "$18.5–19B revenue by 2030 and 14% FCF CAGR" is doing a lot of work — at 7% revenue CAGR you get to ~$20B by 2030 anyway, and FCF growth of 14% off a rising margin base is not heroic given operating margin went from 7.5% to 12.7% in three years with room to 15%+ (BKNG runs ~30%). The bear case that Vrbo is structurally losing to ABNB is correct but Vrbo is a minority of the mix; the B2B segment (roughly a quarter of revenue and growing double-digits) is the real story the models under-weight. Synthesis fair value of $296 vs $322 is a 7% overshoot — that's within noise, not a sell signal.

The genuine contrarian argument cuts the other way from Market Forces: EXPE trades at ~12x FCF while BKNG trades at ~20x and ABNB at ~30x. If you believe the B2B pivot (powering Chase, Walmart, etc. travel storefronts) is even half-real, the multiple gap is a re-rating setup, not a value trap. The bear counter is that OTA disintermediation via AI agents (ChatGPT booking direct, hotels' own apps) collapses the whole take-rate model — this is real, but it's a 3-5 year risk, not a 2026 risk, and it hits BKNG equally. Insider activity is nothing: 2,000 share sale against option exercises is boilerplate, not a signal. The "Market Headwinds" call reading insider skepticism into routine RSU mechanics is analytical malpractice.

Data quality flags: the file dates go through 2026-06-30 with an August 2026 insider transaction, so we're mid-2026 with FY2025 as the last full year — the model is using stale annual ratios (PB 16.7, D/E 2.4) that don't reflect another year of buybacks and earnings. The Q1 seasonality is severe (Q1'26 NI of -$6M, Q1'25 -$200M) — anyone reading quarterly deceleration signals without seasonal adjustment is confused. "Decelerating quarterly trend" in Revenue Confidence is a seasonal artifact. Also the CEO name in the narrative layer ("Ariane Arpin-Synnott") appears fabricated — Ariane Gorin is CEO — which undermines confidence in that layer's specificity.

GPT Reading
Independent reading · gpt-5.4 · generated 2026-08-22 16:32:03
Verdict Fairly valued at $322 — strong cash generation supports the stock, but a cyclical OTA with ~7% growth and recently elevated margins looks worth roughly $300-$340, not materially more.

Expedia’s numbers say “good business, full price.” The operating recovery since 2021 is real: revenue has climbed from $8.6B to $14.7B in 2025, operating income from $186M to $1.87B, and free cash flow to $3.11B. That is not financial engineering; it is a materially better earnings base. The quarterly run-rate also shows continued growth into 2026, with June-quarter revenue of $4.32B up from $3.79B a year earlier, and net income of $878M versus $330M. Over the last four reported quarters, revenue is about $15.7B and net income about $2.04B, which means the trailing earnings power is already well above the 2025 annual figure. At $38.6B market cap, that’s roughly 19x trailing run-rate earnings and about 12x trailing free cash flow if you annualize the current cash generation ballpark conservatively. For a scaled OTA with strong margins, that is not demanding on an absolute basis.

What keeps me from calling it clearly cheap is that Expedia is still a highly seasonal, cyclical intermediary being valued as though the margin gains are fairly durable. The annual operating margin improved from 8.0% in 2023 to 9.6% in 2024 and 12.7% in 2025, and the latest June quarter printed a very strong 20.3% net margin. But the March quarters remain near breakeven or loss-making, with -6.7% net margin in 1Q25 and -0.2% in 1Q26. That pattern is normal for travel, yet it matters: the business still needs robust leisure demand and healthy supplier relationships to support the richer summer/fall profit pool. The balance sheet is acceptable, not pristine: $6.16B debt against $5.41B cash means net debt is modest, but equity is only $2.55B, so the 16.7x book and 2.4x debt/equity ratios look ugly because the equity base is thin. I would not use ROE of 50.8% as proof of a moat; it is mostly a capital structure artifact.

The valuation metrics also look less attractive than the cash flow headline suggests once you remember Expedia is not a structural hyper-grower. Revenue growth has been good but not spectacular: 6.6% in 2025 and about 7.6% in the latest quarter. The market is paying 2.8x sales, 14.9x EV/EBITDA, and 32.8x reported annual earnings. Even if the quarterly run-rate makes that P/E look too high, this is still a business where upside depends on holding margins near recent highs while continuing mid-single- to high-single-digit revenue growth. That is plausible, but it leaves limited room for disappointment. My read is that the stock deserves a quality premium to a generic cyclical because the cash conversion is excellent—$3.88B operating cash flow on $1.29B 2025 net income is outstanding—but not a premium that assumes Expedia can compound like the category winner.

The best counterargument is straightforward: if you focus on the most recent four quarters rather than the 2025 annual line, the stock already looks cheaper than the standard screen implies. Using roughly $2.0B of trailing net income from the last four quarters, the P/E drops into the high teens; using the latest FCF base, the FCF yield is healthy for a platform business with 90% gross margins. A bull will also point out that revenue has advanced steadily from $12.8B in 2023 to $13.7B in 2024 to $14.7B in 2025, while quarterly profitability has stepped up sharply in peak periods—$684M in 3Q24, $959M in 3Q25, $878M already in 2Q26. On that view, the market is not overpaying for a turnaround; it is paying a normal multiple for a normalized earnings stream that could exceed $2B annually. I think that argument is credible, and it is why I am not bearish. I just weigh cyclicality and competitive pressure more heavily than the trailing-quarter math does.

What would change my mind is a clearer signal on whether 2026 is becoming a sustainably higher-margin year or just a favorable point in the cycle. If the next two quarters can keep revenue growth around 8% while converting it into operating margins above 14% on a trailing basis, I would move more constructive and accept a fair value above $340. If instead revenue slips back toward low-single-digit growth or a coming weak quarter falls meaningfully below breakeven after the recent margin gains, then today’s multiple is too generous and I’d pull fair value toward the high $200s. Right now, around $322, I see Expedia as approximately fairly valued with a slight positive tilt because the cash generation is real, but the stock no longer offers much margin of safety.

Grok Reading
Independent reading · grok-4.5 · generated 2026-08-22 16:32:56
Verdict Fairly valued near $320; 8% FCF yield and ~19× TTM earnings offset 7% growth and OTA share risks, little margin of safety

Expedia’s numbers describe a mature OTA that has finished the easy post-COVID catch-up and is now converting incremental revenue into cash at a high rate. Full-year 2025 revenue of $14.73B grew 7.6% from $13.69B, continuing a mid-single-digit trajectory (seven-year-ish CAGR near 7%), yet free cash flow hit $3.11B—more than double net income of $1.29B—on only $770M of capex. Trailing four-quarter revenue is already running near $15.7B, and the last two peak summer quarters (Q3 2025 and Q2 2026) printed 21.7% and 20.3% net margins, lifting TTM net income above $2.0B. That compresses the real earnings multiple closer to 19× than the stated 33× annual PE and puts FCF yield near 8% at a $38.6B equity value. Net debt is trivial (~$0.75B against $5.41B cash), so the EV/FCF multiple sits around 12–13×. Operating leverage is visible and real: operating income rose from $1.32B to $1.87B while revenue added only about a billion. The balance-sheet optics (debt/equity 2.4×, equity only $2.55B, current ratio 0.73) are distorted by years of buybacks and intangibles, not by cash-burn risk; ROIC at 46% confirms the economic engine is intact.

What the models under-weight is the speed of recent margin expansion versus the slow top-line. Earnings CAGR of 27% and FCF CAGR of 30% are partly base-effect recovery, but the step-up from 2024’s $1.23B NI to a $2B TTM run-rate is not just seasonality. Gross margin remains ~90%, classic platform economics. Against that, revenue confidence is flagged as decelerating and the competitive set (Booking’s scale, Airbnb on alternative stays, supplier direct channels) has not gone away. Insider filings are routine option-related flow, not a tell. At $321 the stock is essentially pricing continued high-teens FCF growth that history cannot simply extrapolate once travel normalizes; the 14% FCF growth the thesis layer says is embedded looks ambitious against 7% revenue growth and a cyclical consumer.

The strongest contrary case is straightforward: composite fair value near $298 already flags ~7% overvaluation, EV/EBITDA of 15× is full for a second-tier OTA, and the market-forces layer correctly notes share loss risk that margin expansion can mask only temporarily. If Vrbo remains structurally behind Airbnb and B2B wins prove slower than hoped, the 8% FCF yield compresses quickly in the next downturn; PE on 2025 earnings still looks rich, and ROE is mechanically inflated by the shrunken equity base. I weigh those points as real but secondary to the cash conversion already demonstrated—$3.1B FCF is hard to dismiss as engineering when working-capital and capex intensity stay low.

I would flip to a clear undervalued stance if the next two print quarters sustain mid-teens revenue growth with net margins still above 15% on a trailing basis, or if management guides FCF above $3.5B while buying back stock aggressively below $300. I would flip decisively overvalued on a sub-5% revenue print accompanied by margin compression below 10% operating, or any evidence that take-rate is structurally rolling over.

Big-3 Panel — where each AI stands
Each AI above independently stated a direction (undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued) and how strongly it believes it (conviction, 0–5). We combine those into a Bull-Bear Index on a 0–10 scale: 5 is neutral, 10 is maximum bullish (undervalued at full conviction), 0 is maximum bearish. We compute the score ourselves with the same arithmetic for every seat — the models never grade their own bullishness — so the three are directly comparable. Δ shows how far each seat sits from the panel average of 6.0; a large Δ marks the dissenting voice, usually the one worth reading.
Claude claude-opus-4-7 8.0
undervalued · conviction 3/5 · Δ +2.0 vs panel · self: 6.0
GPT gpt-5.4 5.0
fairly valued · conviction 3/5 · Δ -1.0 vs panel · self: 6.0
Grok grok-4.5 5.0
fairly valued · conviction 3/5 · Δ -1.0 vs panel · self: 5.0
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Separate reads — Company Quality (is it a great business?), Valuation (is it mispriced?), and General Sentiment (how macro + narrative are pushing it), kept deliberately apart · 2026-08-22 16:41:17
Delvantic - Cairn AI
Quality - wait for a dip 6/10
Solid-not-elite OTA at a full price with a mild tailwind - watch, don't chase; my bid is in the $260s.
The cruxWhether the recent margin doubling and buyback pace are the new baseline or a favorable trailing window - because ~two-thirds of today's equity value is growth/margin-expansion equity above the EPV floor.
Forensic checks Derived mechanically from EXPE's filed financials — not from the AI lenses
Liquidity & RunwaySelf-Funding
DilutionShare Count Shrinking
Earnings QualityGood Earnings Quality
The four lensesswitch a tab for its full read — score + evidence
Company Quality
+40
Solid
edge √Σ 113 · risk √Σ 71 · conf 7/10

Expedia looks like a genuine mature earner that has quietly repaired itself post-COVID. Revenue has climbed from $8.6B (2021) to $14.73B (2025), operating margin has expanded from 2.2% to 12.7%, and net income has gone from a rounding error ($12M) to $1.29B. Gross margin sits at 90.1%, consistent with an asset-light OTA model. FCF of $3.11B in 2025 comfortably funds operations and aggressive repurchases: diluted share count has fallen from 161.8M (2022) to 131.9M (2025), a -3.1% CAGR, with buybacks running 324% of SBC (SBC only 2.7% of revenue). Per-share value is being concentrated, not eroded. Earnings quality signals are constructive: accruals -11.9% of assets, Beneish M -2.76, and OCF running well ahead of NI - reported earnings appear real and cash-backed. The soft spot is the balance sheet. Despite $5.73B liquid cash, net debt is roughly $428M and the Altman Z of 1.79 sits in the distress zone. For an asset-light travel platform Z is a noisy signal, but it flags that leverage is meaningful relative to tangible book, and any severe travel shock (as 2020 proved) hits this model hard. Insider tape is neutral - option exercises with tax withholding and one modest Dzielak sale ($661K); no open-market conviction buys but no meaningful dumping either. Durability is decent (scale, brand portfolio - Expedia, Vrbo, Hotels.com) but the moat is contested by Booking, Airbnb, and Google, which caps the quality ceiling.

Strengths 3
m70
Real per-share compounding via buybacks
Diluted shares down from 161.8M to 131.9M in three years (-3.1% CAGR); buyback/SBC ratio of 324% with SBC only 2.7% of revenue means management is a net returner of capital, not a diluter.
m65
Margin trajectory and operating leverage
Operating margin expanded from 2.2% (2021) to 12.7% (2025) on 71% cumulative revenue growth; gross margin also drifted up from 82.3% to 90.1%, suggesting mix/cost discipline is holding.
m60
Strong, consistent FCF
FCF of $3.11B in 2025 on $14.73B revenue (~21% FCF margin) with OCF running 66x NI and accruals at -11.9% of assets - reported earnings look conservative relative to cash.
Concerns 3
m55
Leverage constrains resilience
Net debt of ~$428M and Altman Z of 1.79 in the distress zone; not a going-concern issue given FCF, but the balance sheet is a constraint, not a cushion - a cyclical travel shock would bite fast.
m40
Contested competitive position
Growth (~7.6% YoY 2024-2025) trails Booking and Airbnb; OTA economics face structural pressure from Google and direct-booking trends, which tempers the durability read.
m20
No insider conviction buying
12-month tape shows 0 open-market buys and $2.6M in sales alongside routine option-exercise/tax-withholding activity; not alarming but no informed-buyer signal either.
This is a genuinely better business than it was three years ago - margins have doubled, share count is down 18% in three years, and FCF is real and conservative. But it is not a fortress: net debt, a distress-zone Altman Z, and a contested OTA moat mean the quality tops out in solid mature-earner territory rather than anything elite. I read it as a mid-60s business - the improving trend is real, but the balance sheet and cyclicality keep it well short of 'robust beyond the great majority.'
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Debt maturity schedule and covenants - how much of the $6B+ gross debt comes due inside 24 months
  • Vrbo and B2B segment growth rates vs. core Expedia/Hotels.com to gauge whether mix is improving durability
  • Room-night growth and take-rate trend versus Booking to test competitive positioning
  • Buyback authorization remaining and whether pace is sustainable if travel demand softens
  • Barry Diller / IAC-related governance and any dual-class or control dynamics
Valuation / Mispricing
-51
Fairly Valued
edge √Σ 30 · risk √Σ 87 · conf 7/10
Price $321.63 vs deserved ~$297, roughly -8% - stock is modestly rich, not egregious. attractive below $260.00

The composite FV of $296.05 and signal-adjusted FV of $297.84 sit ~7-8% below the $321.63 price. The DCF ($316.32) roughly corroborates the current quote, while the EPV floor of $105.09 flags what you'd be left with in a no-growth, capital-cost world - a reminder that a lot of the deserved value here is growth-and-margin-expansion equity, not steady-state cash. The anchored P/E print of $446.48 looks like an outlier extrapolating the recent margin doubling and buyback tailwind; I would not lean on it.

Cheap signals 1
m30
DCF roughly supports the price
DCF of $316.32 is within ~2% of spot, so on a cash-flow basis the market is not obviously wrong; a modestly better-than-modeled B2B mix could close the small gap.
Rich / priced-in 4
m58
Price above composite FV
$321.63 vs $296.05 composite / $297.84 signal-adjusted implies ~7-8% overvaluation with zero margin of safety on the central case.
m45
EPV floor far below price
EPV of $105.09 is ~67% below the current price - meaning ~two-thirds of today's equity value is growth/margin-expansion equity, not steady-state earnings power. Fragile if the improving-margin narrative stalls.
m35
Anchored P/E looks stretched
$446.48 anchored-PE extrapolates the recent margin doubling and 18% share shrink; I discount it heavily - it is not evidence of cheapness, just of a favorable trailing window.
m30
Solid, not fortress, business at a full price
Quality lens grades this Solid (40) with distress-zone Altman Z and a contested OTA moat - deserved multiple should be mid-cycle, not premium. Paying above FV for a Solid business is where returns die.
I read this as fairly to modestly rich - deserved value clusters in the high-$290s while the tape is $321. That is not a shortable overvaluation, but it is nowhere near a buy. I want a real margin of safety on a Solid-not-elite business with net debt and a contested moat, which means I need this closer to $260 (roughly a 12-15% discount to composite FV) before it's interesting. Above $300 I am a watcher, not a buyer.
Verify before trusting this (4)
  • Forward B2B segment growth and take-rate trend in the next 10-Q
  • Buyback pace vs FCF - is the share shrink sustainable at current leverage?
  • Any guide-down on Vrbo or hotel supply-side direct-booking pressure in transcript Q&A
  • Management commentary on AI/agentic booking disintermediation risk
General Sentiment
+23
Tailwind
tail √Σ 80 · head √Σ 57 · conf 6/10

The tape is mildly constructive: risk-on regime with VIX at 15 and the S&P just off highs, which suits a 1.25-beta consumer cyclical like EXPE that needs a benign macro to keep travel demand narratives intact. Higher rates and a 25.7 market PE are a background drag on all equities, but they are not the dominant force on this name right now. What IS pressing on EXPE is a fresh beat-and-raise print (the fifth consecutive) with Wedbush explicitly flagging B2C top-line strength and margin improvement, and coverage highlighting aggressive buybacks near the highs. That is a real positive push on sentiment. The narrative itself is a moderate-intensity, moderate-durability steady-compounder story with low cult coefficient - meaning the stock benefits from execution but does not have a euphoric story to ride, and it is equally not being actively de-rated by a breaking bear thesis. The AI-disintermediation and direct-booking bear angle exists in the background but is not the active market conversation this week. Net: recent news flow and analyst tone are clearly supportive, macro is neutral-to-mild-tailwind, narrative is warm-not-hot. That is a Tailwind, not a Strong Tailwind - the pressure is real but not decisive.

Tailwinds 3
m62
Fifth straight beat-and-raise with sell-side endorsement
Wedbush flagging Q2 as another beat with full-year guide raised, B2C margin expansion called out. That is exactly the kind of analyst tone that keeps a steady-compounder narrative intact and invites incremental buyers.
m40
Risk-on tape suits a 1.25-beta consumer cyclical
A calm VIX around 15 and a mildly positive regime is disproportionately helpful to higher-beta discretionary names like EXPE versus low-beta defensives. Not a dominant force but a real assist.
m32
Buyback optics near highs
Recent commentary on the shrinking share count reinforces the disciplined-capital-allocator part of the narrative, which is the load-bearing pillar of the current bull story.
Headwinds 3
m38
Rates and market PE are a background drag
10y at 4.69% and market PE at 25.7 cap multiple expansion on a cyclical middleman. EXPE will not get a re-rating tailwind from macro; any move has to come from execution.
m35
AI-disintermediation bear story lingers
The AI-driven price transparency and direct-to-supplier bear narrative is dormant, not dead. It caps how much cult premium the name can accrue and is a latent risk if any data point validates it.
m25
Low cult, moderate durability narrative
This is not a story stock with fanatical holders. Sentiment gains are earned quarter-by-quarter rather than compounded by momentum flows - limits the upside slope from pure sentiment.
Net pressure leans positive but not powerfully so. The fresh beat-and-raise plus supportive analyst tone in a calm risk-on tape is a genuine tailwind for a 1.25-beta travel name, and there is no active bear narrative de-rating the stock this week. What is missing is intensity - this is a moderate, moderate, low-cult steady-compounder story, so sentiment nudges the price rather than propels it. I read it as a Tailwind: buyers have the wind at their back, but do not expect sentiment alone to drive a multiple expansion; the AI-disintermediation bear thesis is the latent risk that could flip this read quickly if any data point wakes it up.
Verify before trusting this (4)
  • Whether Booking/ABNB commentary or any AI-agent booking data point revives the disintermediation narrative into a real de-rating force
  • Sell-side target revisions in the two weeks post-print - are estimates catching up or is the beat already priced
  • Any softening in consumer travel data (TSA, hotel RevPAR) that would flip the cyclical read
  • VIX behavior and 10y direction - a spike above 20 or yields above 4.9% would meaningfully press a beta-1.25 discretionary name
The market-wide tape + this name's exposure to it (beta / sector / narrative durability). Context on the non-fundamental pressure — not a call on the business or the price. processId: detail-general-sentiment
Growth Outlook
+1
Growing
edge √Σ 101 · risk √Σ 101 · conf 7/10

Global travel demand is still normalizing upward and the industry is in an expansion phase with widening margins — a supportive backdrop that lifts all OTAs. The change happening around Expedia is where demand is discovered: search-based intent is migrating toward AI assistants and supplier-direct apps, which threatens the acquisition economics of an intermediary whose edge is inventory breadth plus paid distribution. Expedia's hedge is structurally sensible — sell the plumbing (B2B supply/tech) and the attention (advertising) rather than only the transaction — and that hedge is where its earnings growth is actually coming from. The macro layer (higher long rates, discretionary spend pressure) is a volume risk but not the deciding variable; the deciding variable is whether the share gap versus faster-growing peers narrows.

Growth drivers 4
m63
B2B + advertising mix shift
The fastest-growing and most margin-accretive parts of the portfolio are the B2B travel-technology/white-label supply business and the media/advertising network. Both scale on inventory and tech already built, which is the mechanism behind operating income growing far faster than revenue (matched-quarter OI +153%, 3-yr earnings CAGR 27% vs revenue CAGR 7%).
m57
Operating leverage from platform consolidation
Multi-brand tech stack unification, marketing-efficiency discipline and fixed-cost restraint are converting modest top-line growth into large EPS growth, amplified by buyback-driven share count reduction. Industry-wide margins are also up ~5.5pp over three years, so this is a real, not one-off, structural lift.
m45
Category in expansion phase
Travel Services sector is in expansion with category median recent growth ~10.3% and 11.7% industry revenue CAGR; even a share-losing participant gets a positive baseline for bookings and room-night volume.
m32
Consistent estimate beats
Four of the last five prints beat EPS estimates, including +10% and +42% magnitudes — evidence guidance is set conservatively and cost actions are landing ahead of modeled pace.
Growth risks 5
m67
Share loss inside a growing category
Recent YoY 7.6% vs industry 11.8% — a -4.2pp gap. This is the structural shape that matters: the company is riding the tide, not gaining. Persistent underperformance against faster-growing OTA and alternative-accommodation peers caps the durability of any mid-teens growth assumption.
m47
Decelerating revenue trend
Revenue confidence flags the quarterly trend as decelerating, and recent revenue YoY (7.6%) sits above but converging with the long-run 7.1% CAGR while earnings YoY has cooled to ~4.9% on a trailing basis — the profit-inflection comps get harder from here.
m41
Distribution/intermediation risk
Dependence on paid search and increasingly on AI answer layers for demand acquisition, plus supplier direct-booking push (hotel apps, airline direct), pressures the take-rate and marketing efficiency that the margin story rests on. Slow-burn, not next-quarter.
m33
Cyclical macro exposure
Discretionary travel with a middleman economic model; macro backdrop flagged as headwinds (10y 4.69). A consumer slowdown hits both volume and mix quickly, and Expedia has no subscription buffer.
m26
Alternative accommodation weakness
Vrbo remains the soft link versus a stronger-growing direct competitor, so the highest-growth lodging sub-category is a drag rather than a driver.
vs expectations: ~6m above · 1y inline · 2-3y below
The forward growth verdict — is the business itself likely to grow (next 2 quarters / year 1 / years 2–3), judged against its category and against printed expectations. The full horizon ladder + creme renders on the Growth Outlook card above. Not a call on the price (Valuation owns that) or the tape (Sentiment owns that).
Please log in to view trade setups
The Augustus trade-setup read is a members feature.
Log in
Lenses kept deliberately separate — Company Quality (price-agnostic), Valuation (price-conditional), General Sentiment (non-fundamental macro/narrative pressure), and Growth Outlook (the forward growth verdict). The scores are not blended. Filing-level items (convertibles, lock-ups, customer concentration) are v2 — see each lens's "verify."
Price Prediction
Lower -5.2% v0.6.0 View full prediction →

When we made this prediction on Aug 23, 2026, EXPE was $321.63. We expect it to be $305.00 by Feb 2027, and we consider it great value under $260.00. This is an early model (v0.6.0) — the direction is more reliable than the exact price. Made Aug 23, 2026.

Price when predicted$321.63
Our estimate for Feb 2027$305.00-5.2%
Great value below$260.00
Price history shown (6 Months)

Blue is our prediction, starting the day we made it. Grey is a slower route to the same place — the same destination, taking longer. Black is the actual price, so you can see how we are doing.

Community AI Feedback
No community reviews yet for EXPE. Be the first — hit How to Contribute, have any AI review this page, and paste its take back here.
My Notes personal — only you see this
v1.1.562 · 9b2927c4 · 2026-08-22 16:52:06