Trivago Suffers Another Loss and Lowers Its Forecast for Next Quarter
Photo Credit: Trivago moves this year into a new office in Düsseldorf. This is a view of its old office. The company reported non-miserable first-quarter 2018 earnings on Wednesday. Trivago
Skift Take
Everyone blames Booking.com for Trivago's woes. But we're reserving judgment on the hotel search company's worse-than-expected second-quarter forecasts until we can hear from its other largest advertiser, Expedia Group, which holds its own first-quarter earnings call soon.
Trivago drives some investors crazy.
The German company exasperated some investors with a surprise last summer that led to a sharp drop in revenue since then.
Investors hate surprises. They had valued Trivago at as much as $23 a share last summer, but they have since fled the stock. On Wednesday shares sold for less than $6. Investors received another, though smaller, surprise on Wednesday, leading them to knock another 20 percent off the value of Trivago's shares in early trading.
The minor surprise came on Wednesday morning during a call for its first quarter 2018 earnings. About 14 minutes into sharing Trivago's first-quarter earnings report, chief financial officer Axel Hefer briefly said, "Some of our largest advertisers have increased their profitability targets."
During question time, analysts probed that comment. They hunted like wolves in a pack to try to figure out what executives meant.
Over a series of answers, it became clear that Trivago's prior forecast fo
