Investing.com -- Shares in Expedia Inc (O:EXPE) surged nearly 12% in after-hours, even as the online travel giant failed to meet analysts' expectations with its fourth quarter revenues and saw its profits swing to a loss for the final quarter of 2015.
During Expedia's fourth company, which ended in late-December, the Bellevue, Washington-based company suffered a loss of $12.5 million or 0.09 per share, significantly below net profits of $66 million or 0.50 per share over the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Expedia's earnings fell slightly to 0.77 per share, from 0.86 in the final quarter of 2014.
Expedia, though, blamed the losses on acquisition costs related to its $3.9 billion merger with vacation rental site Home Away in December, as well as the costs related to integrating its company with Orbitz. In total, the two acquisitions represented a total of more than $6 billion in strategic transitions by the company in 2015.
Expedia also pointed to the negative impacts of the Paris Terrorist attacks last November for restraining revenues. Over the three-month period, the terrorist attacks in France amounted to losses of $10 to $15 million in adjusted EBITDA, according to the company. Overall, Expedia increased revenues to $1.7 billion for the quarter, just below analysts' forecasts of $1.71 billion. Analysts also expected earnings per share excluding one-time items of 1.00.
With the acquisitions complete, Expedia is focused on its immediate short-term growth for fiscal year 2016. The company said Wednesday that it expects the additions of Orbitz and Home Away to boost EBITDA by 35% to 45% in 2016, representing an additional $275 to $325 million. The high end of forecasts narrowly tops analysts' expectations for a 43% increase to EBITDA for the year.
Shares in Expedia soared 10.85 or 11.50% to 105.20 in after-hours trading.